Live & Learn
by Nevarius
Summary: Once he was a skillful warrior... He defeated a Manticore, a Hydra and even himself! And now... Now he just a baby dragon that can barely walk... How will Eravel deal with this new situation?
1. Hatching

It was dark and warm… As if I was inside a hot tub and the warm water was embracing my body and mind. For an indeterminate time I just stood there, in silence and in peace. Nothing else matters to me at that moment.

"I guess you won then." A voice echoed in my mind. It was a very familiar voice.  
"Yes… I'm sorry it had to be that way, but you went out of control." I answered to that voice.  
"Pff. That's what I do… I go out of control, it's in my nature." The voice said again.  
"Yes… But don't worry… I won't let you go out of control again." I said. "I'll take good care of you now, so we will never need to fight again."  
"You better do that because next time we might not be so lucky!" The voice scolded me and I could see who was talking. In the darkness a pair of bright red eyes stared at me. It was a black dragon laying on his stomach and looking at me. It was my chaos. But this time he was not so big as before. He had the same size of an average pony.

"So… no hard feelings?" I asked and my hand caressed the dragons head.  
"All forgiven…" He sighed in resign. "How could I not forgive you? In the end, we are the same person… And you did what was necessary to protect your friends and save you from yourself. "  
"Thank you…" I said and then the dragon disappeared… The silence came again and I just enjoyed the peace of that dark and silent place.

I don't know how much time passed in that peaceful darkness but, slowly, I started to feel that I was awaking. My whole body felt numb and light. I tried to open my eyes but something was preventing me to do that. I could feel something holding my movements… something was holding me. I started to move my limbs and legs, trying to break free but it was so hard.

As I moved my head, something hard touched my face. A voice at the back of my head was telling me to tackle it and so I did. I pulled my head back and then moved it against that hard thing. One, two… three times. The fourth time I did that I heard a 'crack'. That sound made me so happy… I was braking free! I hit it harder and harder, until finally that hard barrier broke. First thing I felt was fresh air filling my lungs. I breathed deep and pushed harder.

The light attacked my eyes and it took some time until I could open them. My whole body was still trapped in that warm place, but now my head was free. Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw seven colorful ponies around me. They had soft smiles on their faces and big and very expressive eyes. At first I got confused… but then all the memories struck me like a spear. I knew their names, I knew who they are and I knew what I had done to them… also, I knew that something was wrong… VERY wrong. Why were they so big!  
When I looked down I felt my head spin for what I saw. My whole body was trapped inside a white egg with red strip! Panic filled my guts and I started to kick and struggle as hard as I could, until I broke free completely. I felt the warmth fading as my whole body was exposed to the air now. I was in some kind of nest made of hay and the six ponies watched me with increased interest. I looked at my hands and saw that I had only four fingers now that ended in retractable claws. Touching my own face, I felt that I had a muzzle now and a pair of small horns. Looking at my back I saw a pair of wings and a tail. My scales were dark green with some details in red.

The panic started to grow, more and more and more in my chest… My mind was numb and everything looked very scary. Something started to burn in my stomach. It started to hurt and I opened my mouth to scream for help, to ask anyone what had happen to me! But my voice came in as a tiny roar and a cone of red flames erupted from my throat. The six ponies jumped out of the way, barely escaping from the hot flames.  
"Calm down!" I heard one of the mares saying, but this was impossible to me. My heart was racing and I was breathing in a heavy way.

A pair of cyan hoofs grabbed me from behind in a tight hug and pulled me up to sit on her lap.  
"Shh… calm down now… you are ok… you are just fine…" It was a familiar voice… As I looked at the one that was holding me I saw a rainbow maned mare… Rainbow Dash.  
I closed my eyes, trying to get a hold of my emotions. Slowly my thoughts started to align and some blank spaces in my memories started to be filled. After a while I finally felt confident enough to speak…

"It… it was true… Princess Celestia really transformed me…." My voice sounded childish, as if I was a 7 year old boy.

"Yes…" Twilight said lying in front of me to be at the same level of my head. "And it's amazing that you have all your memories too… We thought that it would take more time for you to remember it all."

"Why… Why am I like a baby dragon! I thought she would only transform me in a dragon and not… not this! " I asked really frustrated, ignoring the second part of what Twilight said. Not only I was not a human but now I was just a baby!

"Well, I'll try to explain it as simple as possible… At first the Princess tried to only change your body, but since you are not even from this world it was impossible to keep your body stable in the dragon form..." Twilight started to explain. "She then traveled personally to the land of the dragons in search of an egg. Of course, she would not steal it... The princess searched for days for an egg that didn't have any life activity in it."

"Wait… Wait, wait!" I interrupted her. "Are you saying that she used an egg with a dead dragon inside!" I was really shocked with that.  
"Well... yes... you can say that..." Twilight said a little uneasy now... All the other ponies were looking at her now...  
"Looks like yer fergot to tell'us a few details..." Apple jack said to the purple unicorn.  
"I'm sorry... The princess wanted to me to keep the secret until he was born." She said lowering her ears "But, long story short, Princess Celestia found an egg that had no life activity in it, and through a really complex spell, she moved all your vital energy, your mind and, I dare say, your very soul to the egg. And with a little bit of her own life energy, she brought the egg back to life with your soul in there."  
"That feels... weird..." Was all that I could say.  
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie started. "It's like, you are a dead dragon that is not dead anymore and don't have a dragon soul, what makes you not exactly a dragon, and it's also a little creepy to know that your new body was dead before it was brought to life again by the princess. And you have a little of the princess energy in you too. I guess you can be a... undead dragon human alicorn!... a Drahumelindead!" Pink Pie said smiling widely and everypony around looked at her totally lost.  
"Aaanyway..." Rainbow Dash started to say "I don't think that it all matters right now... I mean, you are alive, and that's what it counts, right?" She asked me.  
"Yes... I think so... although is still creepy to know that this body was dead once." I said looking at one of my hands and using the other to caress Rainbow Dash's hooves that were still wrapped around me. I felt so small there… I was barely 50cm tall "By the way, Twilight, you said that the Princess took days to find an egg to be used... how much time passed since that day in Applejack's farm?"  
"A month... maybe a little more..." She said thinking  
"A month! Wow... It is a lot of time to be out..." I said in Awe.  
"You have no idea..." I heard Rainbow Dash whisper and hug me a little tighter. I simply ignored her for this was not the time to discuss that topic.  
"Yes... while you were still in the egg a lot of things happen." Twilight said.  
"A lot of things like... what?" I said a little curious.  
"My brother's marriage and an invasion of Chagelings..." Twilight said.  
"Yeah! That was THE party!" Pinkie Pie said excited.  
"Invasion of what?" I asked a little lost and Twilight explained me the whole episode of the invasion. Starting from the day she got the invitation, about the forgotten mines under the castle of Canterlot and how Princess Celestia lost in a magic duel with the queen of the changelings, Chrysalis.  
"Wow... sorry girls... If only I was there to help..." I felt that would be really good if I was there to help, since I was the more experienced in battles and, from what I knew of these six ponies here, they didn't like violence.  
"Don't worry with that darling..." Rarity said "It was not your fault after all."  
"She's right sugar cube" Applejack started to say. "An' even if'n you weren't there, ye still helped us."  
"I did? How?" I asked curious... If I was not even there, how was it possible that I had helped them?

"When you came to us, we never had any real contact with violence" Twilight started to explain. "and your presence taught us that, sometimes, we don't have any choice but fight... Even thought what really saved the day was not violence, it still bought us some time." She concluded.

Suddenly I felt my head really light and a yawn escaped my mouth.  
"What the..." I said confused. Twilight simply giggled  
"It looks like your body is tired already..." She said. " Since you are a baby now, you body will act as a baby too... I think we should let you sleep now..." She said standing up.  
"I'll take care of that." Rainbow Dash said, putting me on her back, right behind her wings.  
"Uhh... Rainbow? Are you sure?" Twilight said.  
"Yes I'm... I… see you girls later!" Rainbow Dash said, walking to the exit and passing through the door before any of the girls could say something. "Hold on tight..." She said in a serious tone and then took off to the sky.

I held on her mane as tight as I could while we flew. The sun was not far from the horizon...A few stars were already visible as the night was advancing. I was finding it really hard to stay awake... every minute was a torture to me. I could barely see now, my vision was all blurred and I couldn't stop my body from laying on her back... my face against her soft mane... and then I fell asleep.

I don't know how much time I slept... All I know is that as my conscience started to come back but I still thought that I was in another dream. I could feel something really soft under me, nothing like I have ever felt in the real world, only when Discord pulled me to those dreams. I could feel something warm right next to me and something caressing my chest. As I opened my eyes I saw Rainbow Dash right next to me, using her hoof to caress my chest. She was so big now, at least twice my size. Looking around I saw walls made out of clouds... and the bed was made of clouds too. That's why it was so soft and comfortable.

"And to think that when I arrived, you almost beat me to death..." I said. That childish voice was really annoying to me.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and looked at me.  
"Heh... and you even could hold me in your lap..." She smiled.  
I forced my body to sit, but it felt like something was weighing me down. I looked back and stared at my new wings… I tried to move them a little, just out of curiosity.

"Damn… how do you manage to keep control over your legs AND wings at the same time?" I asked Rainbow Dash. I could move my wings but it was not something so natural as to move my arms.  
"I don't know… it's kind of natural to me…" She shrugged.  
I forced myself to stand up now and almost fell. My legs were hard to control and when I moved one of them to step forward I felt my new tail lashing to the side and hitting something.  
"OUCH!" I heard Rainbow Dash yelp and covering her eye with a hoof.  
"Ops… erm… sorry. Still getting used to this new body…" I said and tried to give another step. My tail lashed to the other side again and I fell to the opposite side.  
That was so frustrating… I could barely walk now… how was I supposed to be useful? I think that my frustration was really obvious because I felt a hoof over my head, caressing me softly.  
"Take it easy ok? You can't expect to go flying and running around… you are not even a day old."

"I'm nineteen years old, if you have forgotten" I said a bit angry with her. Why was she treating me like a baby too?  
"You WERE nineteen before the Princess transformed you. Now you are just a cute baby." She teased me.  
"STOP IT OK!" I snapped at her and she blinked a few times in surprise. "It's already bad enough that I'm not human anymore! I'm so helpless that I can't even walk on my own, for Odin's sake! I DON'T' need you teasing me like this!" I said and rolled out of that cloud bed. I forced myself to stand up again and used all my concentration to move my legs. Each step was s big challenge to me. My tail didn't stand still and my wings weighed me down too. I wondered if I could ever get used to this body with so many extra appendices.

It took me at least five minutes to walk out of the room and reach the front door. I felt myself so exhausted… walking the small distance felt like running miles and miles without stop. My heart was beating fast and I was panting. I looked up to the knob on the door and sighed. I was so short that even to reach the knob I had to stand on the tip of my toes. I stretched my body as much as I could and opened the door. As the door opened I fell on the floor… outside the home, I could see the sun high in the sky and felt that soft cold breeze.

I thought about standing up again but I simply rolled to the side, my stomach facing up now, and rested. A cyan head with a rainbow mane appeared over me, covering the sun.  
"Calmed down?" She asked with a neutral tone.  
"Yes… a little…" I said not facing her. "Look… I'm sorry I snapped at you ok? It's just… I was a warrior… I was someone that could stand my ground and fight when need be. But now? I'm helpless… I'm useless… And having your pity only makes it worse." I said not looking at her. "I think you should take me home… to MY home." I said and looked at her. She looked confused.  
"But… But I thought…" She started to say but I interrupted her.  
"Please Dash… Take me home… I can't stay here…. It was a mistake for you to bring me with you." I said simply.  
She looked away and closed her eyes for a second… her expression was a mix of frustration, sadness and a bit of angry. Despite all that, she grabbed me and flew down taking me to my tree house, where I used to live with Steel Head. For the whole trip we didn't speak at all. Soon we arrived at my house… it was just like I remembered it. The trunk had a grayish brown color and not a single leaf on the branches. In the first floor there were two windows and the front door and at the second floor, more two windows and a balcony.

She dropped me at the front door and then looked at me for a second. I saw sadness in her eyes… She opened her wings and flew away, without a single word. I sighed and turned to see the door. I forced myself to stand up and reached my arm to knock. I just hoped that Steel Head was home, or else I would be stuck outside until he arrived.

The door suddenly open and the hard wood hit me in the face. My small body was tossed back and I landed hard on the floor.

"Eravel! Oh Celestia, I'm sorry!" Steel head ran towards me and crouched. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't see you there! I thought you were at Rainbow Dash's house! How'd you get here?"  
It took me a few seconds to understand what was happening around me... The whole world was spinning, Steel Head's voice was just an echo in my ears and my sight was all blurred.  
"uhg… I-I'm ok… I think…" I said in my new childish voice. I shake my head and looked at the white royal guard. "I asked Rainbow Dash to take me here…" I said forcing myself to stand up but I found impossible to hold my balance and fell again.  
"You did? Why?" He looked curious.  
"Can you take me inside? I think I need to lie down… and I mean lie down in my bed." I said with my eyes closed.  
"Erm.. sure.." Steel Head said picking me up and putting on his back. I grabbed his mane and he took me to my room on the second floor.

The room was the same, except for a thin layer of dust in some places. My armor was arranged in a support. My sword and axe were there too. It had a thick layer of dust on it, as if no one had put a hoof on it in days. Except for that, the whole place was still in order and looked like it had at least a weekly clean up.

Steel Head put me on my bed and I crawled to my pillow.

"Being a baby sucks…" I said and yawned.  
"Heh… really?" Steel Head chuckled. The bastard was probably having fun looking at me in that kind of powerless situation.

"Yes… I can't stay awake for even an hour… I can't walk… and this damn childish voice is driving me nuts…" I said feeling harder and harder to stay awake.  
"Relax Eravel…" He said and pulled the cover over my body. "You will get used to this in no time... You'll see…" His voice echoed in a ghostly way and before I knew, I fell asleep again.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


	2. First steps

"OUCH!" I yelped when I fell for the fifth time.

Since the time I woke up, I was trying to walk without falling. It was getting easier, but still was hard to control my wings and tail. Every time I stopped paying attention to them, something would happen and I'd end up on the floor again. The first time my tail lashed to the side and I lost balance. The second time one of the wings simply spread and weighed me to the side. The third time I fell when my other wing spread. The fourth time, I kept my attention in both wings, but lost concentration on my tail and it lashed to the side, making me fall. This time, I tried to focus on the three at the same time, but, don't ask me how, I started to flap my wings and lift a few inches from the floor, just to fall again. I was panting, staying on all fours. Slowly I forced myself to stand up again. If it was not for the wings and tail, I would be running by now!

My room's door opened and Steel head came inside with a sleepy face.

"What are you doing Eravel? If you are trying to kill yourself go to the balcony and jump. The bed is not high enough for t-thaaaat..." He finished his phrase with a yawn.

"If I could at least REACH the balcony on my own..." I said with that childish voice of mine and sat on the floor, crossing my arms. "These dam wings and tail are always in the way! Why couldn't Celestia find a dragon WITHOUT the wings... like spike for example..."  
"Oh stop whining." He chuckled and grabbed me, putting me on his back and walking out of the room. "Wings are awesome to have! I can't imagine myself without them." Steel Head said going downstairs. "Just you wait... When you learn how to use those beauties you will never want to walk again!" The royal guard put me in a chair with a pile of books on it, so I could be at the right level to use the table.

"I hope you are right..." I said in a sigh.

When I had my body, I was the one that cooked every meal... But for obvious reasons, Steel Head made our breakfast. For him some bread with hay and flowers, and for me he chopped some fruits...

"So... during this month that I was out... what else happen?" I asked while eating.  
"Hmm, not much I guess." He said with his mouth full. "After the wedding and the whole invasion thing, every other event lost its importance."  
"hmm... and the girls? I mean, were they ok after what happen?" I asked, since I didn't had idea of what had truly happen after I defeated myself.  
"Of course! They may be girls, but they are more brave than many royal guard I know" He said smiling widely.  
"Yes, but..." I started to say but Steel Head cut me off.  
"They forgave you for what happened... It was not your fault..." He said.  
"Even Fluttershy?" I asked looking at him.  
"Ahm... yes... why?" He asked confused.  
"Yesterday, when I left the egg, all the girls looked fine; except for Fluttershy... she looked somewhat worried." I said  
"Well... She looked a little worried... and she didn't talk at all too." He said thinking.  
"Maybe she didn't forgive me after all..." I sighed.  
"No, there must other reason... I mean... She's the element of Kindness... It's in her nature forgive others." he said serious. "Let's not make any conclusions yet..."  
We finished our breakfast and he went to clean the dishes while I kept practicing on walking and controlling my new wings and tail. I didn't do any other thing the whole morning and Steel Head was there to help me. I was really lucky to have such a patient friend... He stood there by my side all day long. I only started to walk right when the sun started to go down. After so much time of practice, my mind was starting to assimilate the new parts of my body, and I no longer needed to focus all the time to keep my wings closed and my tail align with my body and help me keep balance, instead of lashing around and make me fall.

After dinner, I walked upstairs, using my hands and legs to climb…I really needed to take a bath... I was sore from the falls and really tired, since my body was still so 'fresh'. I don't really know what happened then. I just recall of me entering the bathroom, turning it on and then... I woke up with the sun coming in from my glass door that leaded to the balcony. I stood up and climbed down my bed, breathed deeply and started to walk. It was much easier now, and soon I was going downstairs on my own, to the kitchen. It was still difficult to go down stairs, I have to admit.. Almost fell twice. I had to go step by step, with much caution…. But I managed to arrive at my destination in time.

"Oh hi Eravel." I heard Twilight Sparkle greeting me. She was standing next to Steel Head and Spike, near the entrance door. "I see that you are already walking on your own..." She said looking a bit impressed.  
"Yeah... it took me a whole day of practice... but I finally got used to this body... well, kind of..." I said with my childish voice.  
Spike got closer to me and started to scan me with his eyes... I arched an eye brow a little worried. When I was still a human, I never had a connection with the little dragon... We never really talked more than what was necessary. His stare was starting to make me uneasy... he was half an inch taller than me.  
"You breath fire in you first day... and on your second day you are already walking on two legs? Not bad... not bad at all." He said and patted my head as if I was some kind of child being praised for a good deed.

"Spike, you know I'm not two days old right?" I said sighing.  
"Well, technically you are. As a fellow dragon I give you my welcome to you lil'bro. Any question you may have, don't think twice before coming ask to your elder." He said proudly.

I blinked a few times after that statement and turned to see Twilight and Steel Head when they started to giggle.  
"By Odin..." I mumbled and face palmed.  
"I just came here to see how you were doing..." Twilight said. "but I see that you are ok"  
"Yeah... I'm still getting used to this body, but at least I can walk now without falling."  
"Hey Spike" Steel Head said. "Why don't you take Eravel here to walk around? I BET that he wants to learn everything that an elder dragon like you have to teach." The royal guard, or should I say... The royal JERK said to the baby dragon.  
"Awesome!" Spike said really excited. "Come Eravel! Let's go!" Spike said, grabbing my arm and pulling, dragging me out of my house before I could even think about protesting.

I had a bit difficult on walking now that I was being pulled like that. I had to use great effort to not fall.

"It's so nice to actually meet a fellow dragon that is not mean!" He said happily "last time I meet with my own kind they proved to be a bunch of dumb dragons... always making fun of me and they even wanted to smash a phoenix egg! Can you believe this!" He said while dragging me around.  
"Yeah... must have been awful indeed." I said rolling my eyes, tying to be patient with the baby dragon. In a way, I could understand why he was so excited... I would feel the same if a human showed up. But I was not in a good mood. The feeling of being powerless was still bugging me.

We walked a few minutes until we finally reach the city. There, many ponies started to look at me a bit confused. I think that they didn't knew that I was the same human that they saw before And I would need to face those awkward stares all over again. A fuchsia mare approached us with a smile.

"Hi Spike, who is this little friend of yours?" She said looking at me. Spike was still holding my hand.  
"Oh, this is Er-" Spike was going to say but I carved my claw on his hand and he yelped in surprise, giving me the opportunity to speak.  
"I'm Erin." I said forcing a smile. "I'm new around here, please to meet you."  
"Nice to meet you too young man. I'm Cheerilee, teacher in Ponyvile's school. Are you going to study with miss Twilight Sparkle at the library like spike?" She asked.  
"Ahm... no... I'm living in another place, outside the city." I said trying to avoid giving any details of where or with whom I lived.

"Hmm... in this case I'll invite you to show up at the school tomorrow." She said smiling. "It is important that every youngster have a proper education."  
I was going to say something but she simply cut me off.  
"And don't come with the excuse that you are not a pony." She said in a more serious tone, but still smiling.  
"But I was not going to say tha-" I started again and she simply cut off me again.  
"Tomorrow morning at the school young man, no excuses!" She said and trotted away, not giving me chance to argue about that.

I stood there, watching as the fuchsia mare got away. Who the hell did she think she was to talk to me like that!  
"Heh... looks like you have to go school tomorrow" Spike chuckled, teasing me.  
"What? Forget it! I'm not going!" I said starting to walk away from the baby dragon.  
"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that, I was only joking around. Beside, why didn't you say your true name to her?" He asked walking next to me.  
"Because I don't want anyone knowing who I really am... I mean, imagine how they would react if they knew that I was a human that had his soul transferred to a dead dragon egg?" I said looking at him.  
"Hmm.. yeah... it is kind of creepy when you put it that way." Spike said walking next to me.  
He was going to say something but stopped when my stomach growled, crying for food.  
"Tsk... I didn't eat anything this morning..." I said in a sigh… Spike rushed so fast dragging me around, that I didn't even had the time for a breakfast.

I heard Spike chuckling next to me and a few pats on my shoulder.  
"Come, I know the perfect place for a breakfast that you will never forget!" The baby dragon said happily and started to walk.  
I followed him through the city, trying to ignore the stares and some comments about how 'cute' I was and other stuff like that. It was getting really annoying now. Lucky for me, we didn't walk too much farther. He stopped at a jewelry store and entered. I wondered why he would bring me to a place like this.

The store had a counter made of glass, with many hoof-rings, earnings, necklaces and other pieces of jewelry. A light cream pony with white mane and a big mustache waved to us. He wore a pair of small glasses and a fine green line vest. At first I thought that my senses were all messed up, because the whole store had a sweet smell... a smell that was making me even hungrier, like I had entered in some food store, like Sugar Cube Corner.  
"Hello Spike." He said "I see you found a friend eh?" He smiled at me and I just waved.  
"Hey there Mister Bright!" Spike said having his hand. "He's kind of new in town."  
"And I see you already brought him to the best place in town eh?" He cuckled. "Hold on boys, I'll bring the gems for you." The light cream stallion walked through a door and came back with a sack full of something.  
"I'll tell Twilight that I came here today, so she can pay you" Spike said grabbing the sack.  
"OH, don't worry about it Spike, I wasn't going to use those gems anyway... too big to be used in a jewel and I still got plenty of extra gems in the back..." He shrugged.  
"Wow, thanks mister Bright. You sure are the best!" Spike said.  
"Don't mention it. Have fun you two." The stallion waved to us as we passed through the door.  
We walked to a near bench and sat on it. I was really curious of what had inside the bag... I mean, it couldn't be gems... At least not the gems that that store sold. But to my surprise it was. When Spike opened the bag I saw all sorts of colorful gems with all kinds of colors and shapes. They smelled so good, and my mouth filled with water in no time... Even my stomach growled again.  
"Beautiful isn't?" Spike said and grabbed a red gem from the sack. "Fire Ruby... My favorite." He said and then gave it a bite.

I blinked a few times when I saw his teeth crushing the gem like a cookie, as if it was nothing, and more than that, He started to chew the stone and swallow it all. How the hell did he do that!  
"Here, give it a try" He said picking a blue gem for me.  
"Ahm... I don't know if I can..." I said taking the gem from his hand and staring at it.

"You are a dragon now, we can feed on gems... Go ahead and give it a bite" Spike encouraged me.  
I stared at the blue gem and gave it a lick. It tasted incredible good... it was nothing like I ever tasted before. It was sweet but not like a cupcake... Hard to describe the taste actually. I grabbed the gem with my jaws and pressed it and the gem simply crumbled under the lightest pressure. I started to chew on it and the gem simply melted in my mouth... It tasted so good that I felt shivers down my spine. It was sweet and had an after taste like mint... I shoved the rest of the gem in my mouth and chewed on it like there was no tomorrow. It was simply delicious!  
"Good eh?" Spike said grabbing another gem and giving it to me.  
"Good? This is the most amazing thing that I ever had! I mean... first, I'm eating a rock! Second... it tastes awesome!" I grabbed the gem he gave me and eat it in a few bites.

We stood there, looking at the ponies come and go while sharing a sack of gems, just enjoying our threat.  
"So... how is it?" He asked to me after a few moments of silence.  
"How is what?"  
"You know... You and Rainbow Dash..." He said in a relaxed tone.  
"Well... I don't know... I don't think I want to see her yet..." I answered looking down.  
"Why? She likes you... and you like her... you sure have more luck than I have" I sighed.

"What do you mean?" I looked at him.  
"I have a crush on Rarity..." He started "But that is a one side feeling... she don't feel the same and I don't think that she will ever feel the way I do..."  
"Hmm... I see... must be really bad." I patted him on the shoulder.  
"Yeah... and the worst part? Is that she is always fooling around with other ponies and even other fillies... but never with me." He sighed.  
I didn't know what to say to him right now... so I simply remained in silence and grabbed one more gem to eat. In fact, I was lucky. I loved Rainbow Dash and I knew that she loved me back... But to be with her like this was something... unthinkable at least! I was just a baby dragon now... Barely able to walk... completely helpless. I had no guts to face her like this... I was ashamed of what I was right now.  
"Don't give up..." I said after a while in silence and punched his arm lightly. "...eventually she will notice you. Maybe not right now, since you are so young, but I know that Rarity will notice you in time." I smiled at him, trying to show confidence.  
Spike showed me a soft smile and the answered.

"Yeah... you are right!" he said with renew energy. "I just need to work harder to gain her attention! Thanks Eravel... you are not bad at all you know?" He said and grabbed one of the lasts gems in the sack.  
"Not bad at all? What do you mean by that?" I asked arching an eyebrow.  
"Well, to be honest with you, when you were still human I was... afraid of you..." He scratched the back of his head. "What you did with Rainbow Dash and then, when you fought that Hydra... it was really scary. But now we are like... what? Brothers maybe?" He said getting a little excited about the idea.

I thought for a few seconds before answer.  
"Ye...Yeah... I guess we are..." I said not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Awesome!" He said jumping out of the bench "Come, let's keep walking, I think your legs need this little exercise"  
I stood up on the ground and started to walk besides him. He was a really nice guy and it was no surprise that all the girls liked him so much. I always watched how they treated him like some kind of young brother or cousin and after a morning with him I was already feeling really attached to him.

We walked the whole morning, with no destination at all. I got so lost in our conversation that the curious looks of the ponies around didn't bother me anymore. It was kind of funny how clueless Spike was. He was not good in catching implicit meanings in some phrases. It was no wonder that Rarity didn't see him as a potential partner. He was just a kid, not only in body, but also, in mind too.

"Found you guys" I heard a familiar male voice coming from above. Me and Spike followed Steel Head with our eyes as he landed. He was wearing his usual armor with the exception of the helmet. "Twilight send me to look for you. She needs Spikes help at the library and you, young buy, need to get back home to take a nap." He said looking at me with a smirk in his face.  
"Do you like your eyes? Yes? Want to keep the in your head? So stop with the nonsense!" I said crossing my arms and the royal guard just laughed at me. Damn, he could be really annoying some times...  
"Thank you Steel." Spike said. "I'll go to the library; Twilight is probably expecting me there. And Eravel, Don't forget that tomorrow you have school to attend to!" Spike said an rand to the library.  
"School?" Steel Head looked at me. I was still looking in the direction that Spike ran. That little traitor!  
"We meet a crazy teacher on our walk... Cheerilee I think... She said that I needed to attend to school tomorrow morning." I rolled my eyes. "As if that would really happen..."

"Oh but it will..." Steel head chuckled and lowered his body, offering it so I could climb on.  
"What, are YOU going to make me go?" I said defiantly, mounting on his back.  
"Not at all... But Spike will tell Twilight, and I bet 10 bits that she will come to our house first thing in the morning to drag you to school." He said flapping his wing to fly... I grabbed on his exposed mane.

"I seriously doubt that. She knows that I'm not a kid... Is only this new body that is..." I said holding on him firmly.  
"Yes... but I still bet 10 bits that she will stop by our house." he insisted.  
"Ok, you can bet all you want, but I don't have any money to pay you... not that I'll need to anyway." I shrugged.  
"Oh, I know a better way for you to pay me." He said smirking. I arched an eyebrow, a little worried. "If she don't show up tomorrow, I'll pay you 10 bits... But if she SHOWS up tomorrow... You will go to school without complaining."  
"Heh... deal." I said shrugging again. "You just lost 10 bits."

"We will see..." He said still smirking. For a second I lost control of my wings and they both spread. The wind hit them and pushed me back. I grabbed harder on Steel's mane and pulled it to not fall.

"Argh! By Celestia! Close those wings!" He shouted at me.  
"I'm trying!" I said desperately trying to close them.

Steel Head lost control over the flight and we started to spin, while falling. Right before we crashed I managed to close my wings and Steel Head lift in the air again, panting hard.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

On a nearby cloud a cyan pegasus watched as a baby dragon flew in the back of a royal guard. She giggled softly when the dragon suddenly opened is wings, almost making the guard fall but both managed to recover.

Rainbow Dash had a talk with Rarity about Eravel and his behavior... Rarity told her about how he should be feeling and, as hard as it was, the rainbow maned mare agreed to not chase after him. She agreed to respect his will to be away from her for now and just hoped that soon he would let her get get close again.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N: **First of all, thanks for everyone that read "The fearless warrior" and now is reading the sequel. A very special thanks to SuperUnknown101 for offering himself to be my editor. He takes care of my grammar mistakes making the whole story better to be read ^^  
As always write your opinion at the end of the story.  
Good, bad, hater, lover... Anything is good for me! xD  
The opinions of my readers are EXTREMELY important to me, since it helps me improve more and more.  
So, I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I did writing it  
(and no, SuperUnknown101 didn't fix this A/N xD)


	3. Foal's fight

My body was being tossed up and down in Steel heads back as he trotted to the city. It was really early in the morning and I couldn't help to yawn and rub my eyes to make the sleepiness go away. Twilight had really did come by my house to take me to school. When I was going to refuse, Steel Head reminded me about our bet and, to my misfortune, I was a man of my word.

The sun had just risen above the horizon and the sky had light blue color. It was full of clouds since it was too early even for the pegasi to clear out the sky.

"So, remind me Twilight..." I started saying. "...Why am I, a 19 years old guy, going to this children school?" I was a little angry with her... and more angry with Steel.  
"You know only the basics of equestrian, remember? You are going to live here now, so, you need to have a full knowledge of our written language and our history." She said smiling to me.  
"But why could I not learn with you like last time?" I argued.  
"Last time you were a full grown human... now you are just a baby dragon, and that means that you can go to school where you have a proper ambiance of learning." She smiled to me. "Also, it's the opportunity for you to make some friends."

"Twilight, just to remind you, I'm only a child in BODY! My mind is still of a full grown human!" That whole idea of me going to school was really annoying.  
"Oh stop that Eravel... it will be fun, you will see." Steel head said chuckling.  
I just crossed my arms in frustration.

Soon I could see that wooden building with a small tower to house a bell. In front of it, foals were playing in a small park under the watch of the fuccia mare, Cherlee. Steel Head and Twilight walked near her and she smiled wider.  
"Oh, hello Twilight. Steel Head." She greeted "And hi to you too Erin." She looked at me.

"Hey Cherlee... " I said visibly unhappy to be there. I felt Twilight's glare towards me for a second.

"Thank you for inviting him to your class miss Cherlee." She said trying to compensate my lack of "animo".

"It is my pleasure to have such a special student. A baby dragon! Who would imagine." Cherlee said really excited.  
I simply climbed down Steel's back and when I looked back at me I was face to face with a light olive foal, with a big ribbon in her head. Next to her was an orange foal pegasus and on the other side was a white unicorn. The three of them smiled widely to me in a... creepy way.

"Ahm... hi?" I said feeling a little awkward.  
"Howdy!" The olive foal said.  
"How are you?" The pegasus said right next  
"What's your name?" The unicorn said before I could even answer the previous question.

"Girls, this is Erin... He will be attending to our school from now on" Cherlee said to the three of them. As if I would really come back to this another day... I was only there because I lost a bet.

"Ah'm Apple Bloom! Nice t' met ya" The olive said with a strong accent.  
"I'm Scootaloo" The orange pegasus introduced herself  
"And I'm Sweetie Bell! And we are..." She said an both took a deep breath.  
"THE CUTE MARK CRUSADERS!" They shouted right in my face making me lose any kind of balance and fall on the ground. My ears were ringing for the volume of their voices. What the hell was wrong with these foals! Were they trying to shout me apart!  
I pressed my hands against my ears to cover them for a second.

"Please to meet you girls... I think..." I said still shaken by their shout and very hesitant about being near them. Slowly I stood up again and looked at them. My head was at the same level as theirs. "Wait... I think I know you girls already..." I said looking at the olive foal and the white unicorn. "You must be Applejack's sister... and you Rarity's sister...right?"

"Yeah, how do you know our sisters?" Sweetie asked, arching an eyebrow.  
"I'm friends of Twilight so, I kinda know them... I heard about you two..." I realised that I shouldn't have said that. It appeared that Rarity and Applejack didn't tell their sisters about me turning into a dragon and I didn't want them finding out that I was responsible for attacking their sisters.

Apple Bloom was going to say something but then the school bell started to rang, calling the foals to go inside. I sighed in relief as the three of them walked away going to the wooden building. Someone pushed me from behind... Looking back I saw Twilight smiling at me.  
"Go, and good luck in your first day at school" She said.  
I rolled my eyes and then started to walk, draging myself to the other foals and going inside the building.

The class room had several chairs with table in front of it. On the front wall of the building there was a big table with some papers on it and a big board with a green so dark that it almost looked black. The foals started to take their places and I simply awaited till everyone were sit. I got a table that was at a dark corner at the room, really discrete place. Cherlee soon took her place in front of the foals and called their attention.  
"Ok everypony, Before we start the class lets introduce you all your new class mate" She said looking straight to me. I gulped and shrank a little into the chair. I was pondering what was worse... Having to face that class or fight a manticore. Yeah... The manticore looked a little less scary right now.

"Can you come here for a second?" Cherlee called me.  
I sighed and stood up, walking to the front of the class.  
"I want everypony to say hi to Erin. As you may notice he's a dragon and is gong to attend to our classes from now on." She said happily. The three crusaders waved to me from their sits but the other ponies just stared at me with curiosity, as if I was some kind of weird animal. Not that I could blame them... My reaction would probably be the same in their place.  
"Ahm... Hi... nice to meet you guys..." I said really nervous... The class simply stood in silence staring at me in response.

"Ok, Erin, go to your seat so we can start the class." Cherlee said and I quickly went to my place at the back of the class.

Aside from the start, the rest of the morning was really calm... I found it a lot more easy to learn some things about the equestrian writing with the fuccia mare than with Twilight. Cherlee had a charismatic voice and had good way to explain things and before I knew, I got really wrapped up in the lessons, since it was for my own interest that I learned how to write properly. She explained a little about the Everfree forest and how dangerous it was... not that I needed any more details about that place. I knew very well how that forest could be dangerous to anyone.

After her speech on the Everfree forest, the bell rang again and we were dismissed. It was only four hours of class and we could go home, but many of the foals just stood there to play in the gardens ... but not me. I didn't have the will to stay among them, after all, I was not a foal, cub, child or whatever. My mind had things more important to think of, like possible ways to recover the skills I had when human.

I walked past the foals and was almost at the road that leaded to the city when I saw Applejack approaching.  
"Howdy Eravel... what're ya do'n here?" She asked smiling towards me. "Oh wait... don' answer... lemme guess... Twilight right?" She said and I nodded, making the orange mare chuckle.

"I lost a bet against Steel Head... I didn't really believed that she would actually show up in my home to drag me here." I shrugged.  
"Yer should know that she's just like that" Apple jack said still chuckling a little.  
"Ahm... Applejack, I never had the chance to say this but... I'm sorry." I scratched the back of my head.  
"Fer what sugar cube?" She asked arching an eyebrow.  
"Well... for the whole incident when I was a human..."  
"Aw don't fetch 'bout that... It's all past waters now." She rubbed a hoof on my head smiling. "'Sides, we already told ya that if'n it not fer you, we wouldn't be able to fight gains't so many changelin's... Yer showed us that sum' times we hafta stand up and fight with our own hoofs!"  
I smiled back at her, feeling a little better with that... But the fact that I wasn't yet able to talk with Fluttershy was still bothering me.

I started to hear a commotion coming from behind. As I looked back I saw all the foals gathering to watch something. I started to walk near it next to Applejack to see what it was. All the foals had made a circle around five ponies. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo where on one side and on the other was a pink foal waring a tiara and a gray foal with glasses. They looked to be arguing with each other.

"...but still you girls are a trio of blank flanks" The pink foal said chuckling " and no matter how much 'crusades' you do, lowly ponies such as you girls don't have any kind of special talent." she kept saying that and the gray foal laughed a little.

As I learned, the 'cute mark' was the representation of the talent of that specific pony, and it would appear when the pony in question found out what was his or her special talent.

"oh you little..." Scotaloo said, really angry at the pink pony.  
"Aw shuks... they are at it again..." Applejack sighed near me.  
"Again?" I asked looking at her.  
"Yeah... those two are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Both foals always give mah sister a hard time." She frowned. "Ah'll go ther'n solve this." the orange mare said but I stepped in her way.  
"no... let them be." I said holding the orange pony back.  
"What? Why?" She sounded a little angry with me.  
"You can't always be there for your sister..." I said simply. "Besides they are only arguing... And if needed, I know Apple Bloom will be able to defend herself... she is your sister after all." I said smiling to Applejack who seemed more calm now.  
"...You girls are so low that you grab any chance to be around 'something' that makes you less losers... like that baby lizard from today." I heard Diamond Tiara saying.  
"Yeah... I mean, that thing is nothing but a big "lagartixa"... I bet he can't even fly or breath fire like a true dragon." Silver spoon said and both started to laugh.

Those words hit me like stones. The thing that I almost hated was that I was still learning how to control this new body, and to have those words throwing at me... was too much.  
"Oh, I'm gonna rip someone's face off now..." I said growling and walked in the circle's direction but Applejack grabbed my tail, holding me in place.  
"Hold yer horses Eravel!" She said a bit muffled by my tail and I stopped pulling it. "Yer not gonna go there and attack those two are ya? Ya said it Yerself that they're only arguin."  
"...what could we expect from the sister of a fifth class pony farm like her sister..." I heard Diamond Tiara saying and Applejack snorted.  
"Go get'em Eravel..." She said and pushed me lightly.  
I entered the circle of ponies and glared at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon with my sharp claws exposed... I really wanted to test them right now, but I knew that no matter how angry I was, they were not worth it.  
"So, I heard that you like to make fun of others isn't that right Diamond Tiara?" I crossed my arms... That would have sounded ten times better if my voice were not so childish.

"Ohhh look, is the wannabe dragon! Oh Celestia, somepony save me from this ferocious beast!" She said making a huge drama... Silver Spoon started to laugh at the scene... I simply snorted and small flames escaped from my nose... I really had to learn how to control that.  
"Yeah, very funny, but may I ask you something?" I said getting closer to her "What exactly is your Cute Mark?" I stopped in the middle of the circle, glaring at them. Apple bloom walked next to me and glared at them too.  
"Are you blind or something? Is a tiara, a beautiful tiara, just like I use in my head!" She said showing her flank to me.

"Yeah, but what does that mean? Huh?" I said defiant and Diamond Tiara looked at me confused... Apple Bloom proved to be really smart because she was the first to catch my line of thought.

"What he means is, what is your special talent? Huh? Wearing a tiara? Wah'kind of talent is that anyway?" Apple Bloom saying and Diamond Tiara widened her eyes.  
"W-What do you mean by this!" She said starting to get angry.  
"What ah mean is, besides wearing a tiara and mocking others, what else do ya do? Nuthig! Tha's what I mean!. Look at everypony 'round us. Each Cute Mark have a reason but yours!"  
Diamond Tiara dropped her ears and stepped back.

"So... I hope you rethink your words, because I'm small TODAY and Apple Bloom don't have a cute mark YET, but you? You are branded with a useless talent." I said narrowing my eyes.  
Diamond Tiara's eyes filled with tear with my last words and she ran away crying. Silver Spoon looked at her friend running and then at me again. I snorted leaving two small flames from my nose and that was enough for the gray mare run away too.  
"wow... that was really mean... but she deserved to hear that." I heard Scotaloo saying next to me.

"Sorry... I think I got a little over the edge here..." I sighed realizing that I had just made a foal cry like that.

"Don't yer worry about that." Apple Bloom said smiling at me. "She jus' got what she deserved... Ah think she'll think twice next time she decides that it's a good idea to mess with us." The olive foal stomped hard on the floor and smirked.

"O'right girls..." I heard Applejack approaching us with a soft smile. "Let's get going" The three foals gathered around the orange farm mare. "Wanna come too Eravel?" She said looking at me and the three foals looked at me with interest.  
"Did mah sister jus' call you 'Eravel'?" Apple Bloom asked to me.  
"No!, of course not... she called me by my name, Erin" I said breaking a sweat now. I didn't wanted ponies to know that I was the human.

"Erin? Who in tarnation is Erin, yer name is Ervael" Applejack said and I face palmed. Damn element of honesty...  
"You are Eravel? That human that everyone talked about? But wait, you are no human, you are a dragon." Sweetie Bell said looking at me now.  
"And what in tarnation is this 'Erin' thing Eravel?" Applejack asked.  
"I didn't want anyone to know that I'm Eravel because I don't want to explain how I ended up as a dragon... I saw your reaction at the explanation that Twilight gave... and I don't want others making that face to me when they found out." I explained.  
"But how did you ended up as a dragon?" Scotaloo asked.  
I simply arched an eyebrow at her and crossed my arms... "What did I just said?" I asked a little annoyed.

"OH , yeah... sorry..." She blushed a little.  
"Anyway... I should go back to my home now... I'm feeling a bit tired after today's activities... this new body can't stand a whole day awake." I said feeling the sleepiness crawling on me.

"Wanna a ride to yer house?" Applejack offered.  
"No... thanks Applejack, I think I can walk home on my own." I said and started to walk, waving goodbye to the for mares behind me.  
With my tiny legs I took more time to reach the city's border... each step was a challenge. Each step the sleepiness got stronger... I gave up in the middle of the way... Walked a few steps to reach a nearby tree and sat under it... just a quick nap won't hurt, yeah... it won't hurt. As soon as I closed my eyes I fell asleep.

Right after I closed my eyes I felt someone poking me in the fore head... at first I moved my had, making a sign to whoever it was to go away... but then I felt another poke.  
"Go away I'm trying to sleep here..." I said and made a sign, telling to whoever it was t go away... And the poke came again... I opened my eyes with anger to see who was this pain in the flank.  
"I SAID TO STOP THAT DAMN -" I stopped mid sentence when I saw Discord laying in front of me, smiling. "Oh... looks like I'm already sleeping..." I said looking around. It was the same place where I stopped to sleep, but if Discord was there, there was no doubt that this was a dream.

"Heh... yes you are" He said in that usual joyfully voice of his. "How's this new body going?"  
"Bad... Can't hold a whole day awake, and these wings and tail always get in the way.." I said crossing my arms.  
"Heh, yeah, I was watching you... Funnies thing ever!" He said laughing softly. "But I have to admit that you have a strong will. Your brain was used to a specific set of moves but you manage to rearrange it all in matter of days with only practice and will power."  
"My father used to say that there is nothing one can't do if you really put your soul on it." I said shrugging.

"And you have a nice cyan motive to be back to normal, am I right?" Discord said smirking.  
"Y-Yeah... I guess I have... Can't face her until I'm good again" I said looking at the sky  
"Well, good thing then I made you sleep before she could find you" Discord said smiling at me."  
"WHAT!" I jumped staring at him... I knew he had some influence in this world, but to make me sleep was too much!  
"She's outside right now, in the top of the tree watching you sleep." He said and pointed up. I looked at the tree and saw her. Her body was partially transparent, like a ghost. "She's in the real world right now... That's why her body is like that..." he explained. "And you are going to join her... NOW!" I heard Discord saying and the ground opened under my feet.  
I woke up widening my eyes. My heart was racing and I was shaking a little. I heard a rustle in the trees and when I looked up I saw only a few leaves falling. I saw Rainbow Dash flying away really fast, to get away.

"There you are!" I heard a male voice calling me. "I looked for you all over!" Steel Head said landing next to me. "Was that Rainbow Dash?

"Yeah... I said watching her fly away... She flew away when I woke up..." I sighed.

"Eravel... I can't say that I understand how you feel, but I understand that you like her as much as she likes you... You should throw your pride away and go find her. You won't find a mare like that again." He said looking at me.

"I know that... but it's hard to face her in my current state. I fell like I'm not worthy enough for her right now..." I looked back at him.  
"Well... can't say that I don't understand that feeling either..." Steel Head said to my surprise.  
"What... how?"  
"Long story Eravel... maybe I'll tell you some day... but now, let's get home... I spent the whole morning looking for you and now is hours past lunch time, and I'm starving!" He said and lowered his body so I could climb up.

I mounted on him and we flew to our house... The few minutes of flight we stood in silence. I couldn't stop thinking about the cyan pegasus. I had to gather courage to meet her and soon. My thoughts about Rainbow Dash stopped when we arrived at home and saw that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were waiting for us, both with a smile on their faces. I wondered what they wanted...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N:** Here we are... another chapter ^^

Hope you guys enjoy and as always... COMMENTS!

love to see them!

Tell me things that you like or dislike, suggestions and etc... Everything is welcome ^^


	4. Let's do this

"Your majesty..." Steel Head said landing in front of the two Princesses and bowed.

I slid down his back and did the same. Both were waiting for us there and I was wondering if something bad had happen despite their smiles.

"Hello Steel Head... Eravel.." Celestia said and approached me. "So... how are you adapting to your new body?" She asked to me.  
"Good I think... I'm able to walk now, but still need to learn how to fly and control my fire..." I answered standing up, looking at the sun goddess. "Is it going to take long for me to grow up again? Being so small is really annoying sometimes..."

"Actually" Luna started. "We were just waiting for you to have a full control over your body to make you grow to something more appropriate for your actual age."

"Really? You can really do this?" The idea of get bigger body, even if not as big as I was before, was enough to cheer me up… Not that I forgot the bad things from the morning, but hey, didn't seems to be so bad now.

"But Of course we can..." Luna started again. "We didn't make you grow before because if you are small, the damages of your lack of self control could be minimal." She explained to me.

"So, you decided that I'm ready to be a grown dragon then?" I smiled at them, full of hopes.

"Well yes..." Celestia started. "But we will make you only a bit taller than the average ponies… And it will take some time too, we don't want anything going wrong, so, I'm going to do it slowly... diminishing the impact on your mind."

I had to contain myself to not jump from joy at her words.  
"And when are you going to do it?" I asked feeling really excited.

"I would say in a few days... but I think you are ready now. Tomorrow a carriage will come to pick you up" Celestia said.

"What about me your highness?" Steel Head said.

"You can stay in Ponyvile. It came to my ears that you are doing a fine job around here" Celestia said to the royal guard. Steel didn't look very happy with that but simply nodded in agreement.

The Princesses opened their wings and flew back to Canterlot, leaving me and the royal guard behind. I looked at the royal guard and saw him sighing, lowering his ears.

"Ok... they are gone now, you can tell me." I said looking at him.

"Tell you what?" He asked arching an eyebrow.  
"The reason why you got so upset now... for not going to Canterlot with me." I said and walked inside the house.

"I'm not upset... you are imagining things..." He said walking behind me.  
"No I'm not. I may have sleep for a month inside that egg, but I know you well enough to know when you are upset about something." I turned to look at him. "And don't come saying that it's not important... If it wasn't you wouldn't be so sad right now."  
He sighed again and looked away... He was probably waiting for me to give up but I would not.  
"OK... Look... This is kind of embarrassing for me to say but… well… you see…" I simply crossed my arms, waiting for an answer. "I'm in love." He finally said.  
I arched an eyebrow. That notice caught me by surprise.

"Since when?" I said a little shocked.

"Almost two months... Every time I slept with a mare my mind goes where this specific one is... So I gave up on chasing random females and tried to chase the one that have my heart… but… She's in Canterlot right now and I don't know when she's coming back or if she is even coming back..." He explained. "And I'm not allowed to leave Ponyvile because my job is to look after you and the other girls."

"Why didn't you say so? I bet Celestia would understand that." I said stepping closer to him.

"I know but, put yourself in my hooves for a moment. A royal guard that was assigns to protect two baby dragons and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, asking for his queen to leave his post so he can chase after a mare." He said sitting on his haunches. "This is at LEAST humiliating for me."

He had a point there. I was a warrior too and could understand that his job would be considered a great honor. It was something with vital importance and nothing would justify him leaving.  
"Yeah... you are right... but not everything is lost! If she's in Canterlot, I can track her and send your message." I said smiling at him.  
"Really? Would you do it for me?" He lift his ears looking at me, smiling softly.  
"Of course, we are friends Steel. There is... well... ALMOST nothing I wouldn't do for you." I said chuckling and he laughed softly with me.

Next day came and when the sun was out of the horizon a carriage had arrived at my door. I took a letter that Steel Head had wrote and sealed, addressed to some mare called Octavia. I didn't know where she lived but I was going to find her for sure. The trip was really calm and after an hour I was already able to see the palace.

The carriage landed inside the castle, in a special balcony that was design for that. Celestia was waiting for me there already with a soft smile on her face.

"I hope you had a safe trip here" She said getting closer.  
"Yes Princess, thank you for sending a ride for me" I said bowing my head in respect.

"Come, everything is ready, just waiting for you..." She said turning around and walking.

I followed her through the corridors passing in front of many doors and tapestries. Also the castle had several murals and windows that depicted important moments of pony history. We climbed down some stairs behind a locked and very simple door... Down there we went through a long corridor that had no windows. Different from the rest of the castle this corridor didn't have any kind of decoration and the illumination came from several magic orbs floating near the ceiling.

We ended in front of a big double wooden door. It had several runic emblems adorning it and a big lock with a round hole that should be used to fit some kind of key. Celestia insert her horn inside the hole and used her magic... The runes adorning the door shone for a moment and then the door opened revealing a circular room full of shelves with tomes and books. The ceiling was bright like the day, illuminating the entire place. What caught my attention was a table in the opposite side of the door. It was a medium size table with five hay nests. In each nest was a different egg with different patterns of colors.

"You used one of those eggs?" I asked entering the room. The floor had several circles with runes and other strange symbols.

"No, they are alive and the dragons inside are ready to hatch. The only thing missing is a spark of magic to wake them up." She said.

"And why don't you do it?"

"Because its not for me to do it." She said following me inside. "I use them as a test for those that want to enter the special class of magic... to see if a specific unicorn has the talent to be my personal pupil."

"Like Twilight?" I asked looking the eggs more closely.  
"Yes... Like Twilight Sparkle. She was able to hatch one of those eggs... Spike was born that day." She smiled at me. "These are very special dragons... They are not fit to live among others while they are still young."  
"Why is that?" I looked at her.  
"First of all, they have no wings. Second, their diet is very unique... Aside from gems, that every dragon can eat, they can feed on flowers, hay and other things that ponies eat. Also, they don't have that latent predator instinct that all the other dragons have..." She said sitting on her haunches.

"They don't eat meat, is that it?" I said.  
"Precisely. And the land of dragons doesn't have the plants that those dragons eat. Also, they have a more docile nature, and don't have the potential to compete with others until they are at least eighty years old." She kept explaining. "That's when their true power reveals itself... Magic. Something that is unique for these special dragons. When they are old enough, they develop a great magic power that can overpower any other dragon."

"I see... Does Spike know any of it?" I asked.  
"Not yet... but he will one day." She smiled at me. "Now come... is time to begin the growing process..." She walked near the wall in a different part of the room, where was a small magical circle painted in the floor.

"How long will it take?" I asked getting inside the circle.

"A week... maybe a week and some days... it will depend on how your body adapts itself to the changes... After the growing process is finished you will be able to learn how to fly and your fire breath will be a lot more powerful. But I trust you will be careful with that." She said and stepped back.

"Don't worry princess... You know you can trust me" I said smiling confident, really excited to leave this small body behind.

"See you in a few days..." She said smiling and the circle started to glow. A white bubble appeared around me... It felt so warm in there and suddenly I felt extremely tired. I looked at Celestia one last time through the bubble, and then fell asleep.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"It's a shame that the Princess already took him away... If he kept small he could still go to school" Twilight said and sighed.

She and the girls were in the Spa for a girl's afternoon. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and even Pinkie Pie were inside a hot tub of water full of herbs.

"Does Rainbow know already why he was taken to the castle?" Rarity asked.  
"I doubt... She's been a little weird these days actually." Twilight looked at her white friend.

"That's no surprise if yer ask me." Applejack said. "We all know how she feel 'bout Eravel, and still he ran from her like she's sum kind of monster!"

"Don't be so harsh on him dear..." Rarity said. "You know he's passing through a difficult time. You were there when Steel Head said that he spends a whole day trying to walk and how he refused to be carried around, even when he was too tired to stand up."

"Tha's because he's too damn proud!" Applejack snorted. "He knows tha' we wouldn't judge him if he asked fer help... Everypony need help from time to time."

"Says the one who almost killed herself trying to buck all the apple acres alone..." Twilight giggled

"Ah learned mah lesson, ok? He should learn his too!" Applejack crossed her forehoofs.

"Well, I think that now that he's going to get bigger it will be SOOOO much more fun!" Pinkie Pie said with a wide smile. "Now he will be able to stay up till late to enjoy the parties and his stomach will be bigger to eat more cake, and cup cakes, and muffins, and drink punch. I think we should make a HUUUUUGE party for him when he comes back from Canterlot since he didn't get any when he came out of the egg!"

"I don't think that is a good idea..." Twilight said chuckling at how excited her pink friend was. "You know he don't really like parties..."  
"Yeah, but remember that party he organized those games?" Pinkie tried to make a point.  
"The one he got completely drunk?" Twilight remembered "Yes, I do. And honestly, the LAST thing we want is a breathing fire dragon to get drunk... so, no parties for him."  
Pinkie Pie lowered her ears and pouted at twilight with a puppy begging expression. Twilight looked annoyed at that, trying hr best to resist… but eventually she resign.

"OK, OK... But a SMALL party, just for his closes friends" Twilight said in a sight.  
Pinkie Pie yelped in joy and jumped off the bath tub.  
"YESSS! I'll start the preparations right away!" She said while dashing out of the SPA.

"But Pinkie!" Twilight tried to call her friend back. "He will only... come back next week..." Her last words died in a sight since the party pony was already too far to hear anything.

Rarity and Applejack just laughed softly at the scene... Strangely, Fluttershy looked a bit worried with something and remained silent for the whole conversation.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey... look... That dragon forgot this in the carriage." A white royal guard said to his companion, showing him a letter still sealed.

"Does it have an address?" The companion said.  
"Hmm not on the outside... let's see..." The first guard said opening the scroll and reading. "Yes... is to that musician, Octavia... weird... he didn't put his name on It." reading the letter again. "Well, whatever, I'll deliver it."  
"Don't forget to say the origin" The second guard said chuckling.  
"Who do you think I am to try stealing a mare from somepony? Steel Head?" both laughed and the first guard flew away.

Octavia was in her apartment making the daily maintenance on her Cello. Cleaning the outside of it and checking the strings to see if any of them needed to be changed. A sight escape her and she put her instrument in the case after she was finished. More than a month had passed since she moved to Canterlot. Not that she didn't liked Ponyvile... But the small city was always remembering her of that royal guard that simply tossed her away after she gave her heart to him. She was really in love with that Steel Head and when he turned her down... it was like a hole appeared in her chest that even her music couldn't fill completely.

A knock on her door took her from that meditative state. She trotted to the door and opened it. Her heart sank when she saw a white pegasus with a golden armor standing there. She widened her eyes and stared at the royal guard for a few minutes.

"Good morning miss Octavia." The royal guard said after concluding that the mare was not going to speak first. "I brought this letter from the palace to you." He said giving her the scroll

She blinked a few times, realizing that this colt was not Steel Head... the voice was different and only now she could see that the tail had a different color.

"Ah... ahm, thank you sir..." She said taking the scroll and noticing that it didn't said from whom it was. "Who asked to delivery this for me?" She asked a bit curious.

"It was a guest from princess Celestia. He couldn't bring it here personally, so I took the liberty to make the delivery." He said serious, almost without emotion.

"And may I know who this guest is?" Octavia asked again.

"His name seems to be Erin, and he's a dragon." The royal guard explained. "He can't receive visits at the moment. Come to the castle in a few days and ask for him. I'll make sure that you too meet each other" The royal guard blinked at her and smiled before trotting away.

Octavia didn't understand what he meant with that and got inside the apartment again. She looked at the scroll and didn't notice that the seal had been broken... she simply opened it and scrolled her eyes through the paper.

"_Dear Octavia._

_ After so much time is clear that you probably don't remember me or is still angry... I don't blame you. I know that I deserve your hatred but even if I don't deserve, I ask for forgiveness. I remember you and I remember every single detail of you and the moments we spent together. Those moments were very special to me and they will always be in my memory. _

_ You are the most gentle and caring pony I ever meet. Everypony around you don't have any idea of who you truly is, but I do. You are more than a musician, you are more than a mere performer. You are the most kind mare I ever meet and your music is the way you found to express it. I was able to see past the notes and melodies and reach your core, your soul. _

_ I know I have done horrible things to you, but again, I ask for your forgiveness. I don't deserve it, Celestia knows that I don't, but still I beg you for another chance because you made a hole in my chest when you left and I can't fill this hole without you."_

Octavia read the letter and a pair of tears rolled her face. She didn't know who this dragon was… Maybe an anonymous fan? He spoke about the time they spend together... probably he was talking about the times he went to see her play. He also asked for forgiveness... this one was a little confusing but she was going to find out what he meant sooner or later because the gray mare was decided to go see this dragon.

The way he spoke of her and how he knew who she really was... Only one pony did that and was the royal guard back in Ponyvile. She knew what was this hole in the chest he spoke about too... she was feeling the same... Octavia didn't knew this fan, but she was not going to let him down. Not after she knew what was being thrown away by the pony she loved. In a few days she would go to the palace looking for this dragon... give him a chance to fill her own hole that Steel Head left opened.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"What do you mean with special lessons?" Spike asked to Twilight. He was on the library, caring a few books to put them on the right shelves.

"The Princess took Eravel to the castle to make his body grow... to better fit his mental age." She explained, using her magic to grasp a few books and arranging them in a very organized pile. She had just arrived after a whole afternoon with her friends.

"WHAT!" Spike shouted. "You mean, he will be bigger than me?" The purple dragon was visible disappointed with that.

"Yes... why?" Twilight said looking at her assistant with curiosity.

"... Nothing..." Spike said turning his attention to the shelves and books, but he was clearly disappointed.

"Spike..." Twilight said and used her magic to levitate the purple dragon closer to her. "What's wrong? You know you can tell me... I'm your friend" She put him in front of her and lowered her whole body to be at his high.

Spike let out a long sight and then grabbed his own shoulder, looking away from the purple unicorn.

"Is just... I thought I finally found something like a brother to me... you know? A little brother." Spike said still not looking to her. "I know I shouldn't, but sometimes I feel a bit lonely being the only dragon around... and when Eravel turned into one I thought I would finally have some company... Especially with him being so small. But if he is going to grow that means that he will no longer need me... He will probably be with Steel Head and you girls from now on." he said and stared at the floor, feeling really frustrated.

"Spike..." Twilight said an put a hoof under his chin, pulling his face up so he could look at her smiling face. "He WILL need you... especially now that he will get a grown body. He only learned how to walk, but he doesn't have any kind of control over the rest of his body... I even fear that he will get dangerous for his lack of control. That's why you will have special lessons with me from now on." She explained and Spike felt a little better now. "These lessons will involve fire control and other aspects of a dragon that I honestly don't know... I'm gathering all the knowledge about dragons and after I read it all I'll start learning a few more things with you and by he time he returns WE will be ready to teach him. So, don't feel like that. It hurts me when I see you depressed." Twilight said and kissed his forehead.

Spike smiled at her, feeling more energetic now.

"Yeah, you are right. He will need US" He said putting emphasis on the word 'us'.

"Good. Now, let's go... We have a lot to do and a very short time" She said standing up again and focusing her attention on the books, making the pile of books grows.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I'm having some problems (for a change ¬¬'') and won't be able to post as fast as I wanted... What kind of problem? Well, the 'mental one... I'm lacking of inspiration to write (I do have the ideas in me but when I try to put it to words it turns to be a problem.)  
So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and know that I'm already working on the next one. I'll post it as soon as I finish ^^


	5. Dragons and Ponies

Almost a whole week had passed since Eravel was taken to Canterlot. During this time, a certain cyan pegasus looked a lot more energetic than before. She broke all her records at her weather control job, finishing it a lot faster than she actually needed. A good amount of that time was used to practice flight and the time that she usually used to nap was being used for reading. None of her friends, especially Twilight Sparkle, believed when Rainbow Dash came to the library and borrowed several different books about flight.

During these days, it was a common to see the rainbow maned pegasus laid on a cloud with a book on her hooves and she even missed the 'pet day'... The special day that all the girls could take their pets to play free in the park.

"Looks like she isn't coming today..." Twilight said looking at the sun on the horizon. It was almost evening now and no one had a slight sign of life from Rainbow Dash. All the girls were gathered over a pick-nick towel on the ground.

"Maybe we should go see her?" Fluttershy started to say. "She's been very distant these past days... I'm starting to get worried with her."

"Ah agree with Fluttershy" Applejack said. "Our Rainbow is been acting all weird these days... Is like she's not her anymore!"  
"Not to mention that she is reading a lot!" Rarity mentioned too.

"Oh, but she likes t' read that... what's her name? 'Daring Do'?" Applejack said.  
"But she's not reading any books from the 'Daring Doo' collection..." Twilight sighed and all the other girls looked at her with inquisitive eyes. "She borrowed a pile of books about flight from the library... and I have to say, those books are not even near the type of book that she would like to read."  
"But she likes to fly... maybe she-..." Pinkie Pie started to say but was cut by Twilight.  
"Those books are filled with theories and a very technical language... She left all the other that talked about acrobatic flight..."

"Maybe we should pay our friend a visit?" Rarity commented.

Before the girls could decide if that was a good idea or not a soft sound of a helicopter could be heard. They all looked at the source of that sound and saw Tank flying with that weird machine attached to his back, right next to him was Rainbow Dash.  
"Hey girls!" She said landing near them "Sorry... I kind of forgot what day was today."  
"We noticed..." Applejack said arching an eyebrow.  
"Rainbow, dear... Is everything alright?" Rarity said approaching the rainbow maned pegasus.

"Uhh... yeah? Why?" She said feeling a little weird with all her friends staring at her.

At the same time all the other pets gathered near tank to salute him... except for Opal. She stood at bay, licking her paw, acting like all the other pets were inferior and didn't deserve to receive any attention.

"Why?" Twilight started "Rainbow, when was the last time we saw each other?"  
"Well..." Rainbow Dash stopped to think "A few days ago in the library..."  
"Yes, and you almost took every single book about flight I had in the stock." Twilight stepped closer to the cyan pegasus.  
"And if mah memory's good, you hated to read" Applejack stepped closer too.  
"Except for Daring Doo, because you love her, but flight books don't have stories of Daring Doo, do they?" Pinkie Pie approached from her side.  
"You even forgot to take tank out here to play with his friends..." Fluttershy said from the other side... Rainbow Dash was getting surrounded by her friends... all wearing a frown of worry.  
"Tell us Rainbow dear... what IS going on!" Rarity said behind Rainbow Dash, making the already tense cyan pegasus jump in startle.

Rainbow Dash lowered her ears seeing that she was completely surrounded by her friends. Her only escape would be flying away, but Twilight would probably catch her with magic if she tried to flee.  
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" Rainbow Dash shouted taking her friends by surprise. "I... I'm sorry ok... Is just..." She seemed to be really shaken as her words didn't hold that confidence that the cyan pegasus always had.

Fluttershy was the one to put a hoof on her shoulder to offer comfort and courage to the cyan pegasus talk.

"It's about Eravel..." Rainbow finally said with a sight, looking at the ground... she wasn't capable of looking any of her friends eye to eye. "When I finally found that I loved him and he loved me back the same way, that damn second personality took over his body and he attacked me... and then he was transformed into a dragon! I waited for more than a month to him finally get out of that cursed egg, but now... now that we could finally be together he is avoiding me!" She said filled with frustration. "I... I don't know what to do anymore... I don't want to press him to stay with me, I would hate if somepony forced to stay by my side if I didn't want him close... But then Twilight told me that he went to Canterlot, so the princess could make his body grow... At first I just got sad because I couldn't watch him the way I've been doing" She sniffed finally able to fully contain her tears and lift her head to look at Twilight. "But you said that he would be able to learn how to fly and I saw my opportunity there! I'm trying to memorize those books to be the best teacher Eravel can have and with that, I hope he will not avoid me anymore..."  
All her friends stared at her in awe... This was not the always confident Rainbow that they all knew. In fact, what they all were witnessing was all her frustration that grew day after day since that big festival, where she saw Eravel hugging Twilight Sparkle and felt jealous for the first time.

"Rainbow..." Twilight got closer and put a hoof on her shoulder, smiling softly "You should have told all this to us earlier... we are your friends! Celestia's sake! If you can't talk this kind of stuff with us, what the hay did we serve for?"  
Rainbow Dash looked at the purple unicorn and then to her friends that were surrounding her... a tear escaped her eye and rolled down her face. Where did she was with her head? She had those wonderful friends to help her but instead she just tried to do everything on her own. The cyan pegasus stood there for more than a second and when a second tear rolled from her other eye she threw her hooves around Twilight's neck in a thigh hug... All the other girls hugged her friend trying to comfort her, showing that, no matter what, she would never be alone.

But Fluttershy still didn't seem very happy with all of that... there was something bothering her and she would not ruin the momentum talking about that... Thought she knew that sooner or later she had to tell her friends what was bothering her...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"You really are worthless..." A growling voice echoed through the walls of a dark cave. Despite the thundering sound of that voice, it was clear feminine.  
"Mind your tone with me you over grown lizard!" A female silhouette answered from the entrance of the cave. The shadow had a pair of wings and a horn and was taller than the average pony. "I always thought that that was a bad idea from the start... It was foolish from my part to believe in a word of what you said."  
"But I said that Celestia would be weaker didn't I?" The growling voice echoed again. "And she was, just as I said..."  
"Yes, she was... and as you promised, her sister Luna wasn't there to help either..." The silhouette said. "But you also promised that YOU would be there to help my children!"  
"Do you really think I would lower myself to the point of helping a bunch of wretched beetles?" The growling voice laughed.  
"Don't you dare said those things about my children!" The silhouette said and it horn started emanates a green glow. The glow illuminated the dark cave and both individuals could be seen.

Curled in the end of the cave was a huge female dragon staring at Queen Chrysalis. The dragon had her wings folded and her scales had a mix of blue and and green... her eyes were yellow and she looked very ferocious... She and the queen had their eyes locked on each other with angry expressions.

"If you wanted to retrieve your so precious egg you should have come with me! If our plan didn't succeed, it was as much your fault as it was mine! You for not coming to help me, and me to be foolish enough to actually go and attack Canterlot... even after somepony warned them that we were planning to attack the capital."

"But now is too late..." The dragon said "My egg already hatched, and my baby thinks that he's part of that weak community."  
"This is not my problem." Queen Chrysalis said "I honestly don't want anything else from you or your race anymore... so don't bother calling me here again"  
"Oh... but it is... If you don't help me queen bug, I'll make sure that the dragons hunt down every single one of your children" The female dragon threatened.

"What dragons exactly?" Queen Chrysalis said with a chuckle "Far as I know, you came looking for my help because NO DRAGON wanted to help you." The dragon growled at that affirmation and the queen continued. "They all know the true power of Celestia... Yes, she was really weak when I fought her, but even with me overfeed by all the love from Shining Armor I had barely enough power to overcome her. And I only manage to make her faint for a few minutes to trap her! If her beam had hit me… I would not be around to speak with you. Now that she is at full power again, I don't dare even look at her capital." The queen said walking out of the cave.  
"Don't you dare turn your back at me bug!" The dragon roared and started t stand up.  
"Or what?" Queen Chrysalis said looking back at the dragon. "Don't take me lightly, I may be not even close to being as powerful as Celestia is, but I still have enough power to win against you!"  
Both creatures stared at each other, ready to start a fight. But suddenly, a blue male dragon, just a bit smaller than the female one, entered the cave and landed between the two females.

"Enough!" He said looking at both. Queen Chrysalis didn't pay him no attention but the female dragon stepped back.  
"What do YOU want here!" The female dragon said to the blue one. "I think I made t clear that I didn't want to see you EVER again!"  
The blue dragon approached the female one and bowed his head a little.  
"Mother, please, stop this insanity..." He said. "What is done is done... That egg would never hatch, and you know it!"  
"Celestia had no right to come and take it from my nest!" The female dragon roared with her son.  
"She didn't take it from your nest mother!" The young blue dragon said, staring at his mother. "Father gave the egg to her when she came asking! She asked for it and father gave the egg away!"  
"Your father betrayed me! He said that our egg would not hatch but I went to the land of ponies and saw him! My baby was alive!" She roared again with her son. "And I'll have my baby back, you will see!" She pined her son on the ground and jumped outside the cave, spreading her huge wings and flying away.

Slowly the blue dragon stood up... he had a few cuts on his chest made when his mother used her claws, but nothing too bad.  
"I'm sorry for my mother your majesty..." The blue dragon said approaching Queen Chrysalis.

"Don't worry... But you should stop your mother from doing anything stupid... Celestia may be kind at heart, but she will not forgive anyone that tries to harm her subjects" The changeling queen walked outside the cave.

"We already tried to reason with her... but in hundreds of years my mother not once lost a son. She simply cannot accept that it happened." The blue dragon sat next to the changeling queen, looking at the horizon.

"I have many children... and even with that many I still suffer when I lost one. Every single one of them is special to me and I can understand what your mother is going through... but she will lose more than one son if she kept acting like that..." The queen said looking at the blue dragon next to her.  
The young male looked away and sighed. Since the lost of that egg his mother was never the same and he feared that she would try something stupid that could cause a huge tragedy.

"I just wanted that she would come back... back the way she used to be" He sighed.

"I hope that she gets over her loss..." The queen said spreading her wings. "...and soon, or she will start a path with no return... Farewell young dragon... I have to return to my children now" Queen Chrysalis said and flew away, leaving the young blue dragon behind.

Standing at the top of a mountain, the female dragon with blue and green scales, watched the capital of the pony land, Canterlot. She would get her son back, no matter the cost of it!

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, trying to easy the sting that the daylight caused. I was laid in a cloud that was floating above a really beautiful landscape. I let out a sigh, relaxing for a few seconds before I lift my upper body, trying to sit but something was holding me. The cloud that was white turned into pink now and got really sticky.  
"What the...? Discord!" I shouted struggling to free myself from the candy cloud I was on. Pink clouds made of candy? Who else could be if not Discord?  
The draconian appeared floating next to me, laughing really hard.  
"This is PRICELESS! I swear it... I will never grow tired of watching you in these kinds of situation!" He said holding his stomach... Damn bastard...  
"Ok, you had your fun!" I huffed and stared at him "Now what do you want?"  
"Oh, nothing at all... Just wanted to show you how your new body will be." He said and then the candy cloud disappeared. I fell for just a few seconds and landed in a lake... I barely had the time to scream before the cold water warped my body... The water washed good part of the candy from my scales and I swim to the margin. Today Discord was more than annoying! I wondered if something had happen to make him so... inspired like that.  
The draconian god made a mirror appear in front of me as I stood up. I had changed... not only in size but also in some proportions. My wings were far bigger now, being useful to actually fly... my tail was an inch or two longer than my legs and was a lot more gracious... Also i had a sharp spike at the end of my tail, resembling the point of a spear. In my head I had a pair of horns and my scales had brighter colors, like they had been polished. My legs had a weird shape, something that really reminded a feral leg. But my arms were really more like human arms. My claws looked sharper than before, just like my teeth... they were like daggers, ready to slice anything.

"So... what do you think?" Discord said floating next to me.  
"Well, I'm glad I still resemble a human... I feared that I was going to turn into something feral, you know?" I said and lowered my body, flexing my legs to see better how they worked. I found out that I wouldn't have any problems in walking in all fours with some training... in that position I even felt that I could ran faster than in two legs.

"Your soul affected they way your body developed... I would be surprised if you turned to be like the other dragons out there" Discord said making the mirror disappear.

"My soul?" How could my soul do something like that?  
"But of course... Your physical body suffer a great influence from your soul and mind, and since you have still a human soul, it changed your body to something more alike. Also, your body has it's own memory that have influence in your mind... did you realize that until now you never asked for clothes?" Discord explained...

He was right... For some reason, being naked with this body didn't bother me at all... It simply felt natural.

"It's part of the cellular memory from your body... Wearing clothes are not part of what a dragon is and so your mind accepted the fact that you were naked as something normal and..." He stopped looking at my face and let out a sigh. "Now I know how Twilight Sparkle feels..." He finished and crossed his arms  
"What...?" I asked arching an eyebrow.  
"Did you understand a word of what I just said?" He asked defiant.  
"Well... kind of... I still think that my soul shaping my body is crazy, and I don't know what exactly this cellular memory is... In fact, I don't know what a cell is... but I think I understand the general idea of what you said..."

It was not the first time that they used some kind of word that I didn't understand... Especially when I was at the hospital and heard the so called 'doctors' talking about 'x-rays' and other instruments they used… other names that I swear it was some kind of dish I discovered later to be internal organs.  
He simply rolled his eyes as if he just wasted his time with me, so I choose to change the topic.  
"So... how long until I wake up?" I asked sitting on the soft grass  
"Time in your head and the time in the outside world aren't really compatible... I could hold you here for what would be a year and only a day would have passed in the real world... but I'm a kind at heart so you will wake up in a few minutes." He grinned at me.  
"Kind at heart? Who are you trying to fool?" I chuckled. "you are just eager to watch me screw up again"  
He simply chuckled at that.  
"Well... oh, whatever! Yes, I'm eager to see how you will handle things from now on... specially with some... surprises" He let out a grim laugh.  
I was going to ask what he was talking about but the ground opened under me. I fell in the void for a few seconds before grasping the real world around me. My eyes shoot open and felt my heard racing... Slowly I could feel and see the world around me again. I was laid in a big bed, probably in a room at the castle... I could see the morning sun rays passing through the spaces of a heavy curtain that was in front a big window. I rested at the bed breathing slowly to calm down... I swear I'm going to kill Discord if he makes me wake up that way again...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Outside the castle a gray mare was talking with a royal guard... The mare was carrying a huge case with her Cello inside.

"Can't you please check if he's awake already? I REALLY need to see him... " Octavia said to the royal guard that simply sighed.

"Don't you grow tired of coming here every day?" The guard sighed.  
"I'm sorry, but this is really important… also you do remember that your captain said that I had permission to see him." She remembered the guard,  
" Ok, but today will be the last time I will check it for you ok? This is the third time you asked me this... the nurses that take care of him are starting to get annoyed."  
"Ok, I... I understand..." Octavia sighed not really excited with those words  
"Wait here... I'll be right back." The royal guard said and trotted away, going inside the castle.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N:** I hope you guys enjoyed this one ^^  
Any comments are valid for me, so, don't be shy and speak your mind!  
(and yes... I know I have some grammar problems u_u)


	6. Sh! hits the fan

I kept staring at the ceiling of my room for countless minutes. My mind was spinning around that grim laugh Discord gave... I had a really bad feeling about that... But I would have time to worry about that later. Right now I needed to focus on a simpler task: Get out of my bed and walk.

I pushed toe covers to the side and then lift my upper body. First thing I felt was the weight of my new wings. Closing my eyes to focus a little better, I started to move them slowly... Getting a better grasp of their presence... Stretching them fully I could guess that they had something like 1,2M from the base to the tip. Slowly I moved them as if I wanted to fly and felt a little breeze... Yes, they had the strength to lift me from the ground and make me soar through the sky.

I closed them and then moved out of the bed. When I stood up I completely lost my balance but, instead of falling I crouched and used my hands to support my weight too. This position wasn't that bad... although it was a bit weird when I started to walk on all fours just to test. It was possible, but was something that I would want to avoid doing in public.  
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes again, feeling the presence of my tail. Longer but easy to control. I laid my tail on the ground and started to stand up in two legs again, using the tail as a support. Once I had my legs full stretched I lift my tail just a bit and tried a few steps. The first ones were the hardest. My legs were a bit shaky but that was due to the growing process, no doubt. I just needed to walk more to regain practice.

I walked to the door and pushed it open, just a crack and peeking outside. No one around... I pushed the door fully open and walked outside. I hadn't an actual destination, so I took my time... step by step until...  
"HEY YOU!" I heard a male voice shouting at me. When I looked back I saw a gray royal guard approaching. He had yellow eyes and a dark armor. His wings were somewhat like mines... Reminded the wings of a bat. On his chest he had a moon sign. I never saw any guard like him before. "Can't even go to the damn bathroom..." I heard him mumble while he trotted close to me.  
"Hey there..." I said a bit unsure... this royal guard was definitely a lot more intimidating than the regular white one that I saw so many times.

As he got closer I noticed that I was only 30cm taller than him while walking on two legs.

"The Princess of the Night wanted to see you as soon as you woke up. Please follow me." He huffed and started walking.

We walked for a few minutes until we finally reached the throne room. The big room had several torches along the walls to illuminate better the place. Through the big windows I could see a dark sky full of stars and a beautiful moon shining. Sitting on the high throne was Princess Luna. The royal guard walked in front of her and bowed. I did the same and heard a chuckle from Luna.

"I don't think I could get used to this..." She said while walking out of the throne and stopped right in front of me smiling.  
"If you allow me, your majesty, sitting on a throne don't really suits you..." I smiled at her.  
"Is that so Eravel? You think that the Princess of the Night do not deserve to sit in a high throne like the Princess of the Sun does?" She asked walking around me. From the corner of my eye I saw the dark royal guard widening his eyes in shock.

"Is not a matter of deserving my Princess... I simply think that walking among your subjects suits you a lot more." I said smiling. "And, of course, landing on someone's balcony and almost scaring him to death." I laughed softly and so did her.

"Yes... I remember that you almost jump out of that balcony when we first meet." She said referring to when we first spoke, at the balcony of my three house, when I was still a human.

I could see that the royal guard was still looking at me, but with a frown now. Probably wondering why I was being so relaxed in front of the Princess, but I wasn't going to be bother by him.

"How long did I slept?" I asked to the Princess.  
"About two weeks..." She answered. "The whole incubation process took a week and half to complete and then you slept for more four days..." She explained. "By the way... Eravel, do you know a mare called Octavia? She came day after day wanting to know if you had waked up..."

"Oh yes!" I said remembering the letter. "I had to deliver a letter to her... But I think I forgot it on the carriage."  
"The guards that brought you here already delivered the letter." The dark royal guard said. I was glad to hear that. First because the letter had been delivered and second, because if Octavia was looking for me that means that she wanted to see Steel Head!  
"Thank you." I said smiling to the guard and he simply moved his shoulder a bit... he looked a bit hurt because I was being so informal with the Princess.

"Octavia..." Luna said scratching her chin. "I think 'Tia said something about a mare called Octavia staying in the castle..."  
"Can I go see her?" I asked.  
"I think she's still awake... I raised the moon barely an hour ago..." Luna said starting to walk. She let out a little sight after talking about raising the moon.

"Is something wrong Princess Luna?" I asked noticing.  
"Nothing important Eravel... just... side effects of the Incubation spell falling over my sister..." She said smiling at me.  
"What do you mean?" I frowned hearing that.  
"Well... the spell needed a bit of vital energy from my sister to work... and she is a little weak now..." Luna started to explain. "Giving your vital energy is something that a mortal should never try... even the small amount of it would make the pony in question loose several years of life..."

"And why did Celestia did that!? I was going to grow on my own in time! She didn't need to give her life energy away!" If I knew that... I would never let her do the spell...  
"Calm down Eravel..." Luna chuckled. "Me and my sister, we are immortal, remember? Our vital energy is always being refilled, she just needs to rest more... we don't want to repeat the almost wedding disaster, do we?"  
"What disaster? You mean the changeling attack?" I asked with a frown, still not fully convinced.

"Precisely... To give new life to the egg, 'Tia and I had to spend a lot of vital energy... enough to be fatal to any other pony... Most of ponies couldn't notice, but many creatures that can sense the change of energy when I raise the moon and when 'Tia raises the sun, could realize that something was different. And indeed it was… I was the one that gave more energy, since my sister had more duties than I do… You know… Most ponies are awake during the day and she needs to look after them. By the time I had just enough strength to stay awake during the night, and after hiding the moon I needed to enter into a self regenerative trance during the day." She sighed again. "I woke up to discover that Canterlot had almost being taken…"  
"But if you knew that someone was threatening Canterlot… why did you both proceed with the spell?" I asked trying to find any sense on that reckless action.  
"We didn't know… the warning came one week after we performed the spell… And vital energy is something that takes a bit of a long time to fully regenerate. That's why Celestia is resting as much as possible, so she can be at her top form again… Tonight will be the last one. By the time she needs to raise the sun, my sister will be as strong as ever!" Luna smiled with confidence.

"Yeah… but still… Almost two weeks to be completely recovered is too much isn't?" I asked.  
"Not if you think that she just used something equivalent of 25 years of vital energy on you. Dragons take a long time to grow since their life are really long..." Luna said while walking.  
If you put that way, it makes some sense… At least some kind of sense. But I still though that it was a little risky. Canterlot almost were taken because both Princesses were too weak to defend it… And all because of me. I could just hope to not make them do such foolish sacrifices or take unnecessary risks again. Ever!  
I followed her and the royal guard took the lead, guiding me and Luna to the room where Octavia was staying. It only took us a few minutes of walks through the corridors. We stopped in front of a simple door where she was probably staying.

I lift my arm and hit the door a few times.

"Miss Octavia? Are you awake? It's me, Erin... you wanted to see me?" I said in a soft voice, not wanting to wake her up if she was asleep. After a few seconds I heard movement inside the room...  
The door opened a small crack and I saw an eye peeking outside... Probably was Octavia. I smiled at her and waved a little. Suddenly the door opened fully and a pair of gray hooves warped around my neck. She pulled me closer and I felt her lips pressing against mine in a passionate kiss. My eyes widened and my wings shoot open. From the corner of my eye I saw both, Luna and the royal guard with their jaws dropped.  
"I...I will give you both some... some privacy" I heard Luna saying and trotting away, followed by her royal guard.

Octavia pulled me inside the room and threw me on the bed with a strength I didn't know she had.  
"I received your letter Erin..." She said walking closer to me, in a sensual way. I crawled back a little when she started to climb on the bed.  
"L-Look... erm... m-miss Octavia..." I didn't know what to do! If she did receive my letter why the hell was she jumping on me like that!?

"shh... you don't need to say anything..." She whispered to me passing a hoof over my chest. Her mane was all messed and she stared at my eyes with a provocative look. I felt her hoof sliding down my chest... reaching my stomach and going further down... between my legs. I felt a shiver going down my spine. "I'll take good care of my number one fan..." she said and attacked me again with another passionate kiss.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Rainbow Dash was walking from one side of the library to the other with a frown. Spike was sitting in a corner following the cyan mare with his eyes. Twilight was laid on a bed made of various pillows, reading a book. Rainbow's steps were constant and showed some kind of impatience...  
"GOD DAMN IT!" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted making the baby dragon jump in startle. "I can't take it anymore! When will Celestia send a letter that Eravel wake up!?" She said angrily at Twilight Sparkle that simply lift her eyes from the book.  
"When he wake up maybe?" She answered in a simple way.

Rainbow Dash snorted and started to walk again from one side to another.

"Rainbow, have patience... She will tell us when he wakes up and can receive visits..." Twilight said without taking her eyes from the book.  
"And can receive visits...?" The cyan pegasus repeated the last part of the phrase and turned to see the purple unicorn "That means that he may be already woke up!" Her wings shoot open  
"Ohhhh no!" Twilight said standing up "Even If he woke up he probably is not feeling well... let him rest ok?" The purple unicorn said.  
"Don't worry... I will." Rainbow said walking towards the door. "But after I check that he is ok!" With that Rainbow Dash flew to the night sky as fast as she could. Twilight tried to hold her but the pegasus got out of her reach.

The rainbow maned pegasus reached her house and got inside, letting out a sigh of relief after escaping her friend. From now Rainbow Dash would simply sleep a few hours before fly towards Canterlot. She only did that to Twilight to tease her friend...

First thing in the next morning, Rainbow Dash was already on the air flying to Canterlot. It took her just an hour of flight and she was over the capitol already. She flew close to the castle but with so many windows and rooms it would be impossible to find Eravel there. She decided that it would be wiser to land and go to the front door... but when she was going to pass through the main gate two white royal guards stepped in her way, blocking the passage.  
"HALT!" One of them said.  
"State your identity and reasons to enter the castle!" The other one said.  
Rainbow Dash snorted, annoyed by that attitude.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, and I want to see Eravel." She said in a serious tone.  
"You do not have permission to enter" one of the two said. "Turn back and leave."  
"Why you..." Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth in anger. "Look here! Do YOU know WHO you are talking to!?" Rainbow Dash said flaying a few inches from the ground, pressing her head against one of the royal guards that didn't looked so confident now. "I'm Rainbow Dash, friend of Twilight Sparkle that is the protégé from Princess Celestia AND I'm the Element of Loyalty!" She said in an authoritarian voice making the royal guard step back. "Now, take me to where the dragon Eravel is, or GET THE BUCK OUT OF MY WAY!" She shouted at him. All the courage from the royal guard simply vanished when faced with the wrath of Rainbow Dash.  
"Rainbow Dash! Take it easy with him ok?" She heard a familiar male voice. She stared at his direction, ready to shout another guard to death but when she saw that it was Shining Armor approaching her anger eased.

"Shining Armor? What are you doing here?" She asked ignoring the royal guard that she was yelling at. The poor guard sighed in relief and quick got the opportunity to get back to his post, where he was safe.

"I live in the castle with Cadence, did you forget?" He chuckled watching the poor guard still a bit shaky after the confront with Rainbow Dash. "What about you? What are you doing here, attacking one of my guards?"

"I came looking for Eravel. Do you know where he is?" Rainbow explained getting closer to the white unicorn.  
"Hmm... Eravel... is that dragon right? Twily told me a little about him... weird is that he's using another name now." Shining explained while walking inside the castle.  
"Another name? Why?" Rainbow asked a bit confused.  
"I don't know... All I know is that everypony in the castle calls him Erin." The captain shrugged. "Come, I heard that he was in a room at the west wing of the castle."

With that both trotted inside, going to where Eravel was.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I was still laid in the bed with Octavia hugging me thigh. I almost had no sleep during the entire night. Every time that I tried to leave her bed, she would hug me thigh and hold me down... At the first rays of the morning that came through the window I saw three bottles of hard cider on a table next to the bed. It was a kind of cider that wasn't present at the last festival... this one was really an alcoholic drink, and a strong one... That explained why Octavia simply jumped on me the night before and, thank Odin, passed out before she was able to do anything else. I couldn't refrain the thoughts that if with the 'light' cider I ended up completely drunk and with no memories of the festival, then with this one… I simply shivered at the thought of drinking this 'hard' one.

So, here I am... probably with bags under my eyes and trapped in the same bed with the mare that my best friend loves... I let out a sigh and then shake Octavia lightly to wake her up... It was the fourth time I tried to wake her.  
"Hey... wake up..." I said softly.  
She squirmed a bit and this time, she rubbed her eyes. She opened then and looked at me. Apparently she took a few seconds to understand what happen and then, the gray mare blushed so hard that I could easily see it through her coat. She jumped out of the bed with a yelp and landed hard on the floor letting out another yelp of pain.  
"Octavia! Are you ok!?" moved myself to the edge of the bed to see her.

She was laid on her back with a hard blush on her face and a confused look on her eyes.  
"E-erin!? Oh Celestia, It wasn't a dream then! we... did... did we..." She started to gag with her own words.  
"No... Don't worry... You were drunk and passed out before anything could happen." I smiled softly to her. She let out a sigh of relief.  
"Sorry... Sorry for yesterday..." She said rolling to stand up. Her mane was all messed, more than the previous night.  
"I told you not to worry, you were drunk and out of control... but nothing happen" I said again and sat at the edge of the bed.

"Is just... well..." Octavia was trying to explain herself. "I read your letter, and I couldn't stop thinking of your words" She said coming closer to me smiling softly.  
"Wait... my words?" I said getting confused.  
"Yes, the letter you send me... A royal guard delivered it and said it was from you!" She said smiling widely.  
"But that letter..." I started to say but the door of the room almost flew open.  
"Eravel!" I heard a very familiar happy female voice behind me. "Take your lazy tail off the bed! We will start..."  
As I turned to look at the door I say Rainbow Dash looking at me... her eyes traveled at the empty bottles of cider... the bed... an then Octavia that was blushing hard and was with her mane all massed. I saw her eyes starting to fill with tears... her expression was like she just got struck by a fatal blow right in the heart.  
"Rainbow wait..." I said and she took a step back. "Dash, this is not what it looks like... I swear! I just..." Before I could finish my sentence Rainbow Dash started to run away. I stood up and tried to chase her but Octavia made me trip on her fore hoofs and I ended falling hard on the ground.  
"Erin, who was her!?" I heard Octavia saying with an almost sobbing voice, filled with anger.  
"Octavia listen..." I said starting to stand up.  
"NO!" She shouted. "I won't listen! How... HOW DARE YOU!?" She shouted at me, several tears rolling down her face.  
"Octavia, please!" I tried to speak again but she interrupted me.  
"You send me that letter saying those beautiful things about me... about the pain you felt because you didn't had the pony you loved... but you were just tricking me didn't you? Just like you tricked that other pegasus!" She said still yelling at me. "I hate you! And I hate all the other males in Equestria!" she screamed slammed her head against my chest when she ran out of the room. I fell on my back, losing my breath because of the hard impact.

"Ahrg! Octavia!" I called her but she was already gone.

I stood on the ground looking at the ceiling... How in the world that happen!?

"Looks like somepony got his tail in a real big problem..." I heard a male voice coming from the door. As I looked over the door I saw a white unicorn stallion.  
"Oh no... don't you come saying that you are mad with me too... I swear that, whatever love letter you read, or whatever crazy stuff you heard it WASN'T FROM ME! I swear it! I don't even like stallions!" I said standing up slowly.

"What...?" He asked confused, taking a split of a second to realize what I meant. "OH NO! Celestia No! That's not what I meant!" He said making a disgust face.  
"So what you want?" I said a little rougher than planned... I wasn't in my best mod at the moment.

"I was escorting Rainbow Dash here and saw the whole thing... You really dig your own grave here... two mares at the same time? And one of them is best friend with Celestia's protégé!" He said entering the room and smiling softly... the bastard was making fun of me.  
"Look, if you are only going to mock me then you can help yourself out of the room. I have a lot to think of right now." I said starting to get really annoyed and he started to laugh softly. This unicorn was asking to have his face ripped off...  
"Relax Eravel..." he said and the fact that he knew my name was a bit surprising.  
"Do we know each other?" I said narrowing my eyes at him.  
"I don't think you know me..." He started "But I know you. My sister, Twilight, showed when you were inside the egg and she wrote to me too when you finally hatch... you know? To avoid my men shooting you down if you came flying too close from Canterlot."

"Who are you?" I arched an eyebrow.  
"I'm Shining Armor... Twilight's elder brother and captain of the royal guard." He said with proud.  
"Shining... Armor... Steel Head... Do you guys change names after joining the guard?" I asked.  
"uhhh... no? Why do you ask?" he said a bit confused.  
"Never mind that..." I said shaking my head lightly... The chances were low... but it could be some kind of coincidence... "Anyway... you must be thinking that I'm the worst kind of men aren't you? I mean, after seeing what happen..."  
"Kind of..." He shrugged. "But I saw you trying to explain yourself, so, I think you deserve a chance... After all, my sister hardly is wrong when it comes to sense the personality of a pony... or dragon, in your case... Also, I need to give you some credit, after all, you ARE a guest from both Princesses."

I simply sighed and sat on the edge of the bed... I told Shining armor everything that had happen and how I actually loved Rainbow Dash and how I couldn't face her in my previous helpless form... a baby dragon form. Told him about the letter that I had to deliver to Octavia and how she ended thinking that I was the author.

"You..." He started to say trying to hold the laugh. "..are definitely out of luck!"  
"Don't say..." I rolled my eyes.  
"I think you should give them time... when a mare is angry with you, there is not much you can do to ease her anger... I know that, I'm married after all." He chuckled. "But if you love that pegasus as much as you say... and If she loves you back, then there is not much to worry... I mean, you were doing nothing wrong... according to your version."

"Yeah… maybe you are right…" I said letting out a sight… I could only pray for a chance to actually explain the entire miss understanding.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N:** This chapter really came out quicker then I thought it would... I just hope it had the same quality as the others, so, comments pretty please (with sugar on top) ^_^


	7. Clearing the facts

**Warnirng!** This chapter contains explicit scenes of clop. If you don't want to read it skip to next chapter!

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Rainbow Dash was flying as fast as she could… All she wanted was to reach her home and hide. Hide from the world, from the pain and from herself. Her chest hurt so much that was even hard to breathe… every pump of her heart was a new wave of pain, washing her body like a thousand needles of sorrow. Tears were rolling down her face, blurring her sight. No wonder that she didn't saw a gray pegasus flying towards her and waving.  
"Hey Rainbo-…" The poor pegasus didn't finished her sentence. The cyan mare hit her head right on Derpy's chest and both started to fall, spinning so fast that they turned into a blurred ball of wings, hooves and fur. Both landed on top of Twilight's tree house breaking a lot of branches on the process.

Derpy's eyes were spinning a little as she was totally stunned from the fall. Rainbow Dash in other hand was already forcing herself to stand up. Her head was still spinning and her wings hurt. She flew from Canterlot to Ponyvile in half the time it usually takes. Now she couldn't even flap her wings to get out of the tree due to her exhaustion. A purple flash caught the attention of the two pegasi.

"Rainbow Dash!? Derpy!? What happen?" It was Twilight Sparkle.  
"He..." Rainbow Dash started to say looking at her friend... Rainbow's face was all marked from the tears and her eyes had a reddish color. "He was with another mare..." Rainbow Dash said trying to not cry in front of the purple unicorn. "Eravel was with another mare on the bed...they... they were..." She could finish the phrase... it hurt too much.  
Twilight approached Rainbow Dash and hugged her thigh, not sure of what had happen. Once rainbow's face touched Twilight's shoulder, the cyan Pegasus simply broke in silent tears.  
"Deprpy... can you fly?" Twilight asked to the blond pegasus.  
"Yeah! What happen to Rainbow Dash?" Derpy said standing up and frowning with worry...  
"I don't know... can you go call Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Steel Head?" Twilight said still holding Rainbow, that was sobbing at her shoulder.  
"You can count on me!" Derpy said dashing up and going to assemble the girls and the royal guard.

Twilight teleported herself and Rainbow Dash inside the library... The cyan pegasus was still crying on Twilight's shoulder. The purple unicorn only patted her friend on the back, trying to comfort her,  
"Shh... Don't worry..." Twilight said but she honestly didn't know what was happening and what she could do to comfort her friend.

After a few minutes the library door flew open and four mares and one royal guard entered. They all had a really worried expression on their faces and their worry only grew as they saw Rainbow Dash's face all marked with tears.

"Rainbow dear, what happen!?" Rarity said walking closer to her friend, followed by Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus warped one of her wings on Rainbow's back.  
"Twilight! What happen? Why is Rainbow like this!?" Steel Head said approaching the purple unicorn... She only sighed in response.

"Rainbow... tell them what you told me..." Twilight said to her cyan friend and all the looks turned towards her.

Rainbow Dash wiped her face with a hoof and then started to tell what happen. How she entered the room where Eravel was and saw him with another mare... And by the looks of her and the place they weren't just 'talking'...  
"This is impossible... Eravel is not like this!" Steel Head said stepping to defend his friend.  
"But it's true... I... I saw him with that gray mare" Rainbow Dash said serious, full of anger in her voice.  
"Wait... a gray mare...? Did she have purple eyes?" Steel head said  
"Yes... why?" The cyan mare didn't understood the relation.  
"By Celestia... He was with Octavia!" Steel Head said falling on his haunches... a shocked look on his face.  
"Octavia? You mean... that one that you..." Rarity said and Steel Head simply nodded.

"I asked him do deliver a letter to her for me but... I forgot to sign... He made she think HE was the one that wrote the letter! I... I just can't believe this!" He said standing up and stomping hard on the wooden floor. "I can't believe that he stole the mare I love!"  
All the girls looked at Steel Head and then at Rainbow Dash... This was so unreal. They couldn't understand what happen to his friend... How was Eravel capable of such... disgraceful acts?

"Maybe is not him?" Applejack spoke. "Y'all remember when he got all crazy and started to attack us? Maybe he's just being controlled again."

"I don't think so" Twilight said "Eravel got control over his chaos; he's no longer a threat for us... There must be some other reason..."  
"Whatever!" Steel Head snorted. "I need to go now... give a piece of my mind to Eravel and a little of my hooves too!" The royal guard said starting to go towards the door but Twilight grasped his tail with magic, holding him in place.  
"Hold on Steel... Do you REALLY believe that your best friend would do something like this?" Twilight said with a frown...  
"Well..." Steel started but he was cut by Pinkie Pie.  
"Eravel couldn't do something like this... It's just... not him!"  
"Yer right Pinkie... Eravel is always babbling 'bout honor 'n stuff like that!" Applejack said.  
"So you are saying that I was lying?" Rainbow Dash snapped. "That I just invented all this!?"  
"No sugar cube..." Applejack said coming closer to her cyan friend. "What Ah'm saying is that yer probably misunderstand the whole lot situation... Y'all say that they were drinking hard cider right? Well... Ah can assure you that if Eravel drank just a cup of it, he would probably be sleeping 'till next winter! The poor guy ended drunk with our regular cider."  
"Applejack has a point there Rainbow..." Twilight started "You said that there was least three empty bottles right? Eravel would never be able to drink it all."

"Yeah? Maybe he didn't drink at all!" Rainbow said still with anger in her voice. "Maybe he made that Octavia drink it all so he could take advantage on her!"  
Everypony in the room widened their eyes with that statement.  
"Rainbow, dear... did you just listen to yourself?" Rarity said still in shock.

"What?" The cyan pegasus said still angry. Rainbow was going to say something else but Twilight hit the back of her head, making the cyan mare yelp.  
"Don't even start it rainbow!" Twilight scowled.  
"But..." Rainbow Dash said rubbing her head where the hoof hit.

"No buts!" Twilight cut her friend again and stared at her. "Rainbow do you realize what you just said about him? The he tricked the mare that his best friend love just to sleep with her! How can you even think of something so... terrible!"  
"We should go see him." Fluttershy said finally. "He will probably have an explanation to all of this..."

"I agree... let's go see him in Canterlot" Steel Head said.  
"Won't you be in trouble if you come with u?" Twilight asked.  
"Nah... My duty is to look over the bearers and Eravel... He is already in Canterlot and if you all go too, there will be no motive that can hold me here." The royal guard stated. "Besides, I need to find Octavia and talk to her, Face to Face, like I should have done from the start."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"I have to admit Eravel..." Discord said "I don't think I EVER saw somepony in so much trouble as you!" He started to laugh, rolling on the grass floor. "This is hilarious!"

We were in the usual green camp with just a few trees... Pink clouds flying slowly through the sky and the sun shining on the horizon, sending white lights of the morning over us.

"I can't believe that you didn't warned me of what was about to happen!" I said angrily at him  
"And spoil all this marvelous chaos? NEVER!" He said recovering himself from the laugh attack. "Besides... what happen was SO MUCH better than what I thought it would be. And the best part is that you saw nothing yet... the bigger event still didn't happen!"  
"What the... there is more!?" I was shocked. Even after that entire scene he still saw more problems in my future!  
"But of course!" He grinned. "But don't bother asking, because I won't tell what happens next... I want you being taken by surprise!"  
"You son of-" He cut me stuffing a piece of candy cloud in my mouth.  
"Now now... don't be so angry at me... I mean, is not like your life will be in any danger... well... kind of... But that is not important." He said smiling widely.  
I swallow all the candy and stared at him again... Yes I swallowed... you can't waste a good candy, even if you are in a dream.  
"I strongly hope you know what you are doing Discord..." I said crossing my arms  
"Oh you worry too much!" He said floating a few inches from the ground. "You need to learn how to enjoy life's surprises!"  
"But I do!" I said still a bit angry. "What I don't like is when a disaster like that happen and the only creature that could warn me simply lay back and watch!"  
"I didn't laid back and watch!" He said crossing his arms "I was rolling and laughing!" He said and burst into a loud laugh again.

I simply face palm at that... He was, definitely, without an inch of doubt, the most ANNOYING creature that I have ever met!  
"Can you at least say how my head injury is?" I asked with a sight.  
"Nothing permanent..." Discord stated "the hit was only hard enough to knock you out. Lucky you have a thick skull or else that could have been dangerous."

"Damn... earth ponies are really strong..." I said sitting on the grass.  
"Especially when they are angry..." Discord complemented.

"Not to mention that that... what was the name of that thing again? ... Cello... Was way heavier than I thought it was." I said rubbing my head. "I never thought that Octavia would come to the extreme as to break her cello in my head!"

"Don't forget that she broke the cello on your head and THAT tossed you out of her balcony!" Discord said laughing.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**Few hours earlier:**

Octavia was in her balcony... Her front side of her body erected as she played a sad tune on her instrument, bathing herself on the light of the sunset... She had shed many tears since she came back and when her eyes couldn't cry anymore, she used her music to express her sadness... Five floors below, Shining Armor and Eravel were listening at her music... that part of Canterlot was a lot more quiet than the rest, especially at that hour of the afternoon, so, they didn't had any problem to hear her play.

"You sure about this Eravel?" Shining armor said a bit unsure.  
"Yes. I have to go talk to her and she will never open the door to me." The dragon said with a serious frown.  
"Ok... here we go then..." Shining armor used his magic, lifting Eravle until he landed in the balcony where Octavia were.

He landed without making a single noise, and stood there watching as the gray mare played her instrument. She was playing the last notes and had her eyes closed, to have a better feeling of each tune... her hooves traveling through the strings with mastery and perfection.  
When she finished the music Eravel started to clap his hands slowly. That startled Octavia and she almost fell on the ground. She had to use her instrument as a support to avoid falling.

"YOU! What do you want here!?" Octavia hissed… her sadness turning into anger.

"I just want to talk to you..." The dragon said smiling softly. Octavia simply stared at him.  
"I don't want to talk to you Erin... EVER again! So leave!" The gray mare said with a trembling voice.

"Sorry Octavia, but I can't..." Eravel said. "You MUST hear what I have to say!"  
"I already said that I don't want to!" Octavia said almost shouting now.  
"But Octavia!" Eravel stepped forward and, without knowing, crossed the line.  
"I - SAID - LEAVE!" Octavia shouted at him while grabbing her cello and swinging it as hard as she could, losing her self control for just a brief moment.  
Eravel didn't have the time to react and the wooden instrument hit the side of his head. The instrument body shattered in many pieces and Eravel was tossed out of the balcony. Luckily, Shining Armor was there. Well, luckily for Eravel because he had a soft spot to land on. Shining didn't have time to react with magic and the dragon landed right on top of him, both being knocked out.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**Present time.**

First thing I felt was an extreme pain at the side of my head. It took me a few seconds to have a full grasp of my surroundings... I was laid in a soft bed and, after opening my eyes, I could see that I was in one of the royal hospital room. Slowly I started to sit up and rubbed the side of my head. I felt a few bandages around it... I just hoped that Discord had said the truth about not having any permanent damage.

First things first, I went to the bathroom to take care of some natural necessities and then started to walk over the room's door. I was a bit worry about how long I had slept there. When I was about to reach the door, it flew open, hitting me right in the face and making me fall hard on the ground. My head was spinning and I could hear many voices echoing, like I was in some kind of cave. I could only see blurs... very colorful blurs.

"...-vel? Eravel! Are you ok?" I recognized the voice calling me, it was Twilight sparkle.

My vision started to come back to normal and in front of me I saw Twilight and the others... Even Rainbow Dash... But she was behind all the others and didn't looked like she was happy in see me.

"Uhg... kind of..." I said still recovering myself. "I'm still alive, if that what you meant."

"Heh... sorry..." She said a little embarrassed and used her magic to help me stand up.  
"What you girls are doing here?" I said rubbing my nose softly, trying to ease the pain.  
"We came to talk to you dear..." Rarity said stepping forward "...about... you know, that little incident that happen."  
I simple let out a sight.  
"Where is Steel Head?"I asked.  
"We stumbled on Octavia on the way here... he stayed behind to talk to her." Twilight said.  
"Good..." I said rubbing the back of my head. "Girls, do you mind leaving me alone with Rainbow Dash? I want to talk to her alone... if she wants to talk to me, of course."  
All the eyes turned to see the cyan pegasus. She snorted and rolled her eyes.  
"Whatever. Let's just end this." She said visible angry.

All the other girls left the room and I walked towards the bed, climbing on it and resting my back against the pillow. I really had to lie down after the hit I took from the door. Rainbow Dash closed the door and walked near the bed, standing right next to me.  
"Look... first of all, I thank you for giving me a chance to explain." I started  
"Yeah... you should be thankful!" She answered with another snort.  
I simply ignored her and kept talking.  
"Now... what you saw yester day..."  
"It was three days ago..." She corrected me.  
"I slept for all this time? Wow..." I said with a weak chuckle. "Anyway... What you saw that day... it was not what looked like. I was suppose to deliver a letter from Steel head to Octavia, but that wind head stallion forgot to sign the letter... So Octavia thought that the letter was from me. By the time I woke up after the incubation spell, she was staying at the castle and the night I went to see her, to talk about Steel Head, she was drunk and attacked me."  
Rainbow Dash's frown grew.  
"But I swear that NOTHING happen!" I said quickly. "She only kissed me and then passed out. I ended trapped on her bed the whole night but nothing happens... Because she is not the mare I love... I love you Rainbow."  
I saw her frown slowly melting and being replaced by a confused and sad look.  
"But..." she started. "Why were you rejecting me? After the day you left my house, you never came looking for me... why Eravel?"  
I took a deep breath before starting to talk... it would be difficult to explain that.

"I can't say it was easy to stay away from you... and the motive was because I couldn't look you in the eyes the same way I did before. I didn't felt worthy of staying with you."

She arched an eyebrow in confusion and I kept talking.  
"You are fast, strong; smart... you are one of a kind Rainbow... And I was just a helpless baby dragon that could barely walk. It was a question of pride... I had lost mine and couldn't face you until I was able to rebuild it again... to at least be 20% of what I was before."  
She frowned at me again when I finished the explanation.  
"You know this is the dumbest thing I EVER heard right?" She said with an annoyed tone.  
I arched an eyebrow now.

"Seriously! I meet with Pinkie Pie like, every day and even when she's being... you know... Pinkie Pie, the things she says don't come even closer to all this nonsense you just spoke of. Did you really think I was going to reject you for having another body? Like… as if it was YOUR fault?" She sounded more annoyed than before.  
"But-..." I started and she shoved a hoof in my mouth to shut me up  
"Listen. Do you know what animal I have as a pet? A tortoise. YES! A tortoise! And I don't care if he can't fly or if he is not even 10% fast as I am. All I care is for his well being because I like him the way he is... And the same applies to you. I love you, you stupid lizard head, and it's not because you had a baby body that I would reject you." She said using both hooves to hold my head, caressing softly.  
"Rainbow I-..." I had so much to say to her... ask her to forgive me... thank her for not giving up on me and so much more... and at the same way the words simply wouldn't come.  
"Just shut the buck up..." She said chuckling and then approached her face from mine.  
I grabbed her head and our lips finally touched each other in a soft kiss. I pulled her on the bed and she lay right next to me. Our eyes meet and I didn't waste a second... I moved my head and kissed her again... only this time it was a far more passionate kiss than before. I warped her in my arms and hugged her, pressing our bodies while tasting her mouth. It was the happiest moment of my life, to finally be with the one I loved...

I pressed my body against Rainbow while my tongue started to move against hers... I simply didn't care about anything else anymore... I just wanted to be with her. My hands started to caress her body... one hand on her mane and the other slowly reaching down to her flank. I could feel a warmth in my crotch as our body rubbed against one another.

I let out a muffled moan when her body pressed against mine and I felt her belly rubbing against the tip of my cock. Dash probably felt it too because she broke the kiss and moved her body an inch away from mine. She looked down and blushed heavily when she saw my length growing and coming out of an almost invisible crack I had between my legs. I felt my face burning a little too… It would be the first time I had ever been with a woman… or in this case, a pony…

"R-Rainbow….I…" I started but she kissed me lightly on the lips, as a sign that I didn't need to say a thing.

My whole body tensed when she moved a hood over my length, caressing and rubbing it softly. This new 'member' was far more sensitive than my human one… probably because as a human, this part of my body was always exposed and now, as a dragon, it kept well cover inside my body.

She kept passing a hoof over my cock, sending strong waves of pleasure to my brain. A soft moan escaped my mouth and I closed my eyes… I felt she coming closer and biting my neck, rubbing her teeth softly at me scales. My whole body squirmed at that and I heard Rainbow giggling softly.  
"S-Stop teasing me" I said chuckling lightly.  
"Can't help it… is just too fun to see you squirm" She giggled again.

I chuckled lightly and moved forward, kissing her. I moved my hand over her body, going down her belly… her body tensed when I approached my fingers for her most intimate parts. I made a small pause… rubbing a finger right above her slit… and then finally moved the rest of my hand over her genitalia. She gasped when I pressed a finger between her labia and started to caress…

As I felt her getting wet I moved my finger over a curious bulb she had at the front edge of her slit. When I pressed a finger over it she let out a soft moan and closed her eyes. I kept rubbing that spot, watching closely at her reactions… Her eyes closed… her heavy breath… her lightly red cheeks… Everything on her was beautiful.

She suddenly pushed me, making me roll and face the ceiling. She quickly mounted me, pressing her slit over my length, pressing it against my lower belly… I looked her in the eyes and saw everything that I could have wish in a woman… mare… whatever!

"Nervous…?" She whispered to me.  
"A little… first time doing that…" I bit my lip lightly.  
"Relax…Dashie will take good care of you…" She said lifting her body… the tip of my cock touched her entrance and then she started to lower her hips. I felt a strong wave of pleasure hitting my brain.

Rainbow started to mover her body up and down…. Slowly at first, but quickly picking up a good rhythm. Each movement was a new jolt of pleasure that hit me… Soon I caught my own hips moving against her in involuntary spasms… I was panting hard… my hands grabbed her hips as I helped her move.

I increased the speed of my thrusts to the point when Rainbow simply couldn't move her hips down again. I heard her calling for me and resting her forehoofs on my chest… An over whelming pleasure filled my brain when I simply could not hold back a climax. Our voices joined in a unison cry of pleasure and I simply couldn't hold back a ball of fire that erupted from my throat and hit the ceiling, leaving dark marks on it…

We rolled to the side and I embraced her, kissing her fore head... I stood there, right next to Rainbow Dash… Just enjoying the afterglow of the best experience in my life… We both were still panting, smiling to each other.  
"I love you…" I whispered close to her face and she pecked me in the lips.

We simply embraced each other and soon I realized that she had fallen asleep. I relaxed and let my mind wander… nothing specific… The last thing that crossed my mind before I finally fell asleep too was _"Stay away from my thoughts Discord…"_

I woke up with someone moving right next to me. As I opened my eyes I was face to face with Rainbow Dash. She looked me in the eyes and smiled…. I couldn't help but smile too… the memories of hours before coming to my mind… or the day before… maybe minutes? I didn't know how much time passed and I didn't really care.

"It wasn't a dream was it?" I asked smiling…. Rainbow Dash simply pointed up, showing the brunt mark on the ceiling and I chuckled.  
"I really hope you learn to control this fire" She giggled. "I don't want to end up with any brunt mark over my body."  
"Don't worry…" I chuckled "I will learn to control this… well, at least THIS kind of fire I will control" I laughed softly and she hit me lightly on the shoulder, giggling.

"By the way… what happened to your head?" She asked looking at the bandages.  
"Well... long story short..." Eravel said rolling his eyes...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"...You broke your cello on Eravel's Head!?" Steel Head said with his jaw open.

The royal guard and Octavia where on a coffee, drinking and talking to each other.  
"By Celestia! I wonder how he didn't die!" I said still amused.

"I know I went a little over border... but at the time I was so mad at him that I didn't really think before acting!" She said blushing a little. "B-But that's not what we came here to discuss" She said trying to change the topic.

"Yeah... I guess so." Steel Head sighed lightly.  
"So... that letter was from you?" Octavia asked... The royal guard simply nodded in response. "Why didn't you come to see me earlier? Why send a letter?"  
"Because I couldn't leave Ponyvile..." Steel Head sighed. "For some time I still didn't had the courage to face you... I felt like I didn't deserve even look at you. When I finally found the courage to act, I found out that you were already here in Canterlot... I'm assign to look after Eravel and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, I couldn't simply leave my post..."

Octavia stood in silence for a minute, while thinking.  
"I..." She finally started. "I won't say that I understand... because I don't. What you did was way out of what I think to be forgiven." She looked in the guard's eyes. He looked down and lowered his ears.

"So... I think it's for the best that I leave you alone then." He said standing up.  
"I said that I don't understand, but that don't mean that I cannot try." She said before the pegasus leave.

Steel Head looked at her, perking his ears and she continued.

"In respect of your friend and... as an apology for almost killing him, I'll give you a chance." She said and smiled softly.  
Steel head jumped over the table, tackling the earth pony and planting a passionate kissing on her lips. She fell on her back and he stood on top of her, both losing themselves in that moment of joy.

"Excuse me" A male voice called both, making them break the kiss... It was the attendant of the coffee. "I'll have to ask for you two to behave in front of our other clients" He said serious... Octavia and Steel Head saw all the other ponies staring at the scene...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N:** Its funny how some times the story seems to be alive and you, as a writer, only put it all in words. Well, this chapter was like this... I hope you all enjoy! Also, don't forget to comment. I like to read comments ^^


	8. Clearing the facts clean

**Clean version **(almost)

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Rainbow Dash was flying as fast as she could… All she wanted was to reach her home and hide. Hide from the world, from the pain and from herself. Her chest hurt so much that was even hard to breathe… every pump of her heart was a new wave of pain, washing her body like a thousand needles of sorrow. Tears were rolling down her face, blurring her sight. No wonder that she didn't saw a gray pegasus flying towards her and waving.  
"Hey Rainbo-…" The poor pegasus didn't finished her sentence. The cyan mare hit her head right on Derpy's chest and both started to fall, spinning so fast that they turned into a blurred ball of wings, hooves and fur. Both landed on top of Twilight's tree house breaking a lot of branches on the process.

Derpy's eyes were spinning a little as she was totally stunned from the fall. Rainbow Dash in other hand was already forcing herself to stand up. Her head was still spinning and her wings hurt. She flew from Canterlot to Ponyvile in half the time it usually takes. Now she couldn't even flap her wings to get out of the tree due to her exhaustion. A purple flash caught the attention of the two pegasi.

"Rainbow Dash!? Derpy!? What happen?" It was Twilight Sparkle.  
"He..." Rainbow Dash started to say looking at her friend... Rainbow's face was all marked from the tears and her eyes had a reddish color. "He was with another mare..." Rainbow Dash said trying to not cry in front of the purple unicorn. "Eravel was with another mare on the bed...they... they were..." She could finish the phrase... it hurt too much.  
Twilight approached Rainbow Dash and hugged her thigh, not sure of what had happen. Once rainbow's face touched Twilight's shoulder, the cyan Pegasus simply broke in silent tears.  
"Deprpy... can you fly?" Twilight asked to the blond pegasus.  
"Yeah! What happen to Rainbow Dash?" Derpy said standing up and frowning with worry...  
"I don't know... can you go call Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Steel Head?" Twilight said still holding Rainbow, that was sobbing at her shoulder.  
"You can count on me!" Derpy said dashing up and going to assemble the girls and the royal guard.

Twilight teleported herself and Rainbow Dash inside the library... The cyan pegasus was still crying on Twilight's shoulder. The purple unicorn only patted her friend on the back, trying to comfort her,  
"Shh... Don't worry..." Twilight said but she honestly didn't know what was happening and what she could do to comfort her friend.

After a few minutes the library door flew open and four mares and one royal guard entered. They all had a really worried expression on their faces and their worry only grew as they saw Rainbow Dash's face all marked with tears.

"Rainbow dear, what happen!?" Rarity said walking closer to her friend, followed by Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus warped one of her wings on Rainbow's back.  
"Twilight! What happen? Why is Rainbow like this!?" Steel Head said approaching the purple unicorn... She only sighed in response.

"Rainbow... tell them what you told me..." Twilight said to her cyan friend and all the looks turned towards her.

Rainbow Dash wiped her face with a hoof and then started to tell what happen. How she entered the room where Eravel was and saw him with another mare... And by the looks of her and the place they weren't just 'talking'...  
"This is impossible... Eravel is not like this!" Steel Head said stepping to defend his friend.  
"But it's true... I... I saw him with that gray mare" Rainbow Dash said serious, full of anger in her voice.  
"Wait... a gray mare...? Did she have purple eyes?" Steel head said  
"Yes... why?" The cyan mare didn't understood the relation.  
"By Celestia... He was with Octavia!" Steel Head said falling on his haunches... a shocked look on his face.  
"Octavia? You mean... that one that you..." Rarity said and Steel Head simply nodded.

"I asked him do deliver a letter to her for me but... I forgot to sign... He made she think HE was the one that wrote the letter! I... I just can't believe this!" He said standing up and stomping hard on the wooden floor. "I can't believe that he stole the mare I love!"  
All the girls looked at Steel Head and then at Rainbow Dash... This was so unreal. They couldn't understand what happen to his friend... How was Eravel capable of such... disgraceful acts?

"Maybe is not him?" Applejack spoke. "Y'all remember when he got all crazy and started to attack us? Maybe he's just being controlled again."

"I don't think so" Twilight said "Eravel got control over his chaos; he's no longer a threat for us... There must be some other reason..."  
"Whatever!" Steel Head snorted. "I need to go now... give a piece of my mind to Eravel and a little of my hooves too!" The royal guard said starting to go towards the door but Twilight grasped his tail with magic, holding him in place.  
"Hold on Steel... Do you REALLY believe that your best friend would do something like this?" Twilight said with a frown...  
"Well..." Steel started but he was cut by Pinkie Pie.  
"Eravel couldn't do something like this... It's just... not him!"  
"Yer right Pinkie... Eravel is always babbling 'bout honor 'n stuff like that!" Applejack said.  
"So you are saying that I was lying?" Rainbow Dash snapped. "That I just invented all this!?"  
"No sugar cube..." Applejack said coming closer to her cyan friend. "What Ah'm saying is that yer probably misunderstand the whole lot situation... Y'all say that they were drinking hard cider right? Well... Ah can assure you that if Eravel drank just a cup of it, he would probably be sleeping 'till next winter! The poor guy ended drunk with our regular cider."  
"Applejack has a point there Rainbow..." Twilight started "You said that there was least three empty bottles right? Eravel would never be able to drink it all."

"Yeah? Maybe he didn't drink at all!" Rainbow said still with anger in her voice. "Maybe he made that Octavia drink it all so he could take advantage on her!"  
Everypony in the room widened their eyes with that statement.  
"Rainbow, dear... did you just listen to yourself?" Rarity said still in shock.

"What?" The cyan pegasus said still angry. Rainbow was going to say something else but Twilight hit the back of her head, making the cyan mare yelp.  
"Don't even start it rainbow!" Twilight scowled.  
"But..." Rainbow Dash said rubbing her head where the hoof hit.

"No buts!" Twilight cut her friend again and stared at her. "Rainbow do you realize what you just said about him? The he tricked the mare that his best friend love just to sleep with her! How can you even think of something so... terrible!"  
"We should go see him." Fluttershy said finally. "He will probably have an explanation to all of this..."

"I agree... let's go see him in Canterlot" Steel Head said.  
"Won't you be in trouble if you come with u?" Twilight asked.  
"Nah... My duty is to look over the bearers and Eravel... He is already in Canterlot and if you all go too, there will be no motive that can hold me here." The royal guard stated. "Besides, I need to find Octavia and talk to her, Face to Face, like I should have done from the start."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"I have to admit Eravel..." Discord said "I don't think I EVER saw somepony in so much trouble as you!" He started to laugh, rolling on the grass floor. "This is hilarious!"

We were in the usual green camp with just a few trees... Pink clouds flying slowly through the sky and the sun shining on the horizon, sending white lights of the morning over us.

"I can't believe that you didn't warned me of what was about to happen!" I said angrily at him  
"And spoil all this marvelous chaos? NEVER!" He said recovering himself from the laugh attack. "Besides... what happen was SO MUCH better than what I thought it would be. And the best part is that you saw nothing yet... the bigger event still didn't happen!"  
"What the... there is more!?" I was shocked. Even after that entire scene he still saw more problems in my future!  
"But of course!" He grinned. "But don't bother asking, because I won't tell what happens next... I want you being taken by surprise!"  
"You son of-" He cut me stuffing a piece of candy cloud in my mouth.  
"Now now... don't be so angry at me... I mean, is not like your life will be in any danger... well... kind of... But that is not important." He said smiling widely.  
I swallow all the candy and stared at him again... Yes I swallowed... you can't waste a good candy, even if you are in a dream.  
"I strongly hope you know what you are doing Discord..." I said crossing my arms  
"Oh you worry too much!" He said floating a few inches from the ground. "You need to learn how to enjoy life's surprises!"  
"But I do!" I said still a bit angry. "What I don't like is when a disaster like that happen and the only creature that could warn me simply lay back and watch!"  
"I didn't laid back and watch!" He said crossing his arms "I was rolling and laughing!" He said and burst into a loud laugh again.

I simply face palm at that... He was, definitely, without an inch of doubt, the most ANNOYING creature that I have ever met!  
"Can you at least say how my head injury is?" I asked with a sight.  
"Nothing permanent..." Discord stated "the hit was only hard enough to knock you out. Lucky you have a thick skull or else that could have been dangerous."

"Damn... earth ponies are really strong..." I said sitting on the grass.  
"Especially when they are angry..." Discord complemented.

"Not to mention that that... what was the name of that thing again? ... Cello... Was way heavier than I thought it was." I said rubbing my head. "I never thought that Octavia would come to the extreme as to break her cello in my head!"

"Don't forget that she broke the cello on your head and THAT tossed you out of her balcony!" Discord said laughing.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**Few hours earlier:**

Octavia was in her balcony... Her front side of her body erected as she played a sad tune on her instrument, bathing herself on the light of the sunset... She had shed many tears since she came back and when her eyes couldn't cry anymore, she used her music to express her sadness... Five floors below, Shining Armor and Eravel were listening at her music... that part of Canterlot was a lot more quiet than the rest, especially at that hour of the afternoon, so, they didn't had any problem to hear her play.

"You sure about this Eravel?" Shining armor said a bit unsure.  
"Yes. I have to go talk to her and she will never open the door to me." The dragon said with a serious frown.  
"Ok... here we go then..." Shining armor used his magic, lifting Eravle until he landed in the balcony where Octavia were.

He landed without making a single noise, and stood there watching as the gray mare played her instrument. She was playing the last notes and had her eyes closed, to have a better feeling of each tune... her hooves traveling through the strings with mastery and perfection.  
When she finished the music Eravel started to clap his hands slowly. That startled Octavia and she almost fell on the ground. She had to use her instrument as a support to avoid falling.

"YOU! What do you want here!?" Octavia hissed… her sadness turning into anger.

"I just want to talk to you..." The dragon said smiling softly. Octavia simply stared at him.  
"I don't want to talk to you Erin... EVER again! So leave!" The gray mare said with a trembling voice.

"Sorry Octavia, but I can't..." Eravel said. "You MUST hear what I have to say!"  
"I already said that I don't want to!" Octavia said almost shouting now.  
"But Octavia!" Eravel stepped forward and, without knowing, crossed the line.  
"I - SAID - LEAVE!" Octavia shouted at him while grabbing her cello and swinging it as hard as she could, losing her self control for just a brief moment.  
Eravel didn't have the time to react and the wooden instrument hit the side of his head. The instrument body shattered in many pieces and Eravel was tossed out of the balcony. Luckily, Shining Armor was there. Well, luckily for Eravel because he had a soft spot to land on. Shining didn't have time to react with magic and the dragon landed right on top of him, both being knocked out.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**Present time.**

First thing I felt was an extreme pain at the side of my head. It took me a few seconds to have a full grasp of my surroundings... I was laid in a soft bed and, after opening my eyes, I could see that I was in one of the royal hospital room. Slowly I started to sit up and rubbed the side of my head. I felt a few bandages around it... I just hoped that Discord had said the truth about not having any permanent damage.

First things first, I went to the bathroom to take care of some natural necessities and then started to walk over the room's door. I was a bit worry about how long I had slept there. When I was about to reach the door, it flew open, hitting me right in the face and making me fall hard on the ground. My head was spinning and I could hear many voices echoing, like I was in some kind of cave. I could only see blurs... very colorful blurs.

"...-vel? Eravel! Are you ok?" I recognized the voice calling me, it was Twilight sparkle.

My vision started to come back to normal and in front of me I saw Twilight and the others... Even Rainbow Dash... But she was behind all the others and didn't looked like she was happy in see me.

"Uhg... kind of..." I said still recovering myself. "I'm still alive, if that what you meant."

"Heh... sorry..." She said a little embarrassed and used her magic to help me stand up.  
"What you girls are doing here?" I said rubbing my nose softly, trying to ease the pain.  
"We came to talk to you dear..." Rarity said stepping forward "...about... you know, that little incident that happen."  
I simple let out a sight.  
"Where is Steel Head?"I asked.  
"We stumbled on Octavia on the way here... he stayed behind to talk to her." Twilight said.  
"Good..." I said rubbing the back of my head. "Girls, do you mind leaving me alone with Rainbow Dash? I want to talk to her alone... if she wants to talk to me, of course."  
All the eyes turned to see the cyan pegasus. She snorted and rolled her eyes.  
"Whatever. Let's just end this." She said visible angry.

All the other girls left the room and I walked towards the bed, climbing on it and resting my back against the pillow. I really had to lie down after the hit I took from the door. Rainbow Dash closed the door and walked near the bed, standing right next to me.  
"Look... first of all, I thank you for giving me a chance to explain." I started  
"Yeah... you should be thankful!" She answered with another snort.  
I simply ignored her and kept talking.  
"Now... what you saw yester day..."  
"It was three days ago..." She corrected me.  
"I slept for all this time? Wow..." I said with a weak chuckle. "Anyway... What you saw that day... it was not what looked like. I was suppose to deliver a letter from Steel head to Octavia, but that wind head stallion forgot to sign the letter... So Octavia thought that the letter was from me. By the time I woke up after the incubation spell, she was staying at the castle and the night I went to see her, to talk about Steel Head, she was drunk and attacked me."  
Rainbow Dash's frown grew.  
"But I swear that NOTHING happen!" I said quickly. "She only kissed me and then passed out. I ended trapped on her bed the whole night but nothing happens... Because she is not the mare I love... I love you Rainbow."  
I saw her frown slowly melting and being replaced by a confused and sad look.  
"But..." she started. "Why were you rejecting me? After the day you left my house, you never came looking for me... why Eravel?"  
I took a deep breath before starting to talk... it would be difficult to explain that.

"I can't say it was easy to stay away from you... and the motive was because I couldn't look you in the eyes the same way I did before. I didn't felt worthy of staying with you."

She arched an eyebrow in confusion and I kept talking.  
"You are fast, strong; smart... you are one of a kind Rainbow... And I was just a helpless baby dragon that could barely walk. It was a question of pride... I had lost mine and couldn't face you until I was able to rebuild it again... to at least be 20% of what I was before."  
She frowned at me again when I finished the explanation.  
"You know this is the dumbest thing I EVER heard right?" She said with an annoyed tone.  
I arched an eyebrow now.

"Seriously! I meet with Pinkie Pie like, every day and even when she's being... you know... Pinkie Pie, the things she says don't come even closer to all this nonsense you just spoke of. Did you really think I was going to reject you for having another body? Like… as if it was YOUR fault?" She sounded more annoyed than before.  
"But-..." I started and she shoved a hoof in my mouth to shut me up  
"Listen. Do you know what animal I have as a pet? A tortoise. YES! A tortoise! And I don't care if he can't fly or if he is not even 10% fast as I am. All I care is for his well being because I like him the way he is... And the same applies to you. I love you, you stupid lizard head, and it's not because you had a baby body that I would reject you." She said using both hooves to hold my head, caressing softly.  
"Rainbow I-..." I had so much to say to her... ask her to forgive me... thank her for not giving up on me and so much more... and at the same way the words simply wouldn't come.  
"Just shut the buck up..." She said chuckling and then approached her face from mine.  
I grabbed her head and our lips finally touched each other in a soft kiss. I pulled her on the bed and she lay right next to me. Our eyes meet and I didn't waste a second... I moved my head and kissed her again... only this time it was a far more passionate kiss than before. I warped her in my arms and hugged her, pressing our bodies while tasting her mouth. It was the happiest moment of my life, to finally be with the one I loved...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I woke up with someone moving right next to me. As I opened my eyes I was face to face with Rainbow Dash. She looked me in the eyes and smiled…. I couldn't help but smile too… the memories of hours before coming to my mind… or the day before… maybe minutes? I didn't know how much time passed and I didn't really care.

"It wasn't a dream was it?" I asked smiling…. Rainbow Dash simply pointed up, showing the brunt mark on the ceiling and I chuckled.  
"I really hope you learn to control this fire" She giggled. "I don't want to end up with any brunt mark over my body."  
"Don't worry…" I chuckled "I will learn to control this… well, at least THIS kind of fire I will control" I laughed softly and she hit me lightly on the shoulder, giggling.

"By the way… what happened to your head?" She asked looking at the bandages.  
"Well... long story short..." Eravel said rolling his eyes...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"...You broke your cello on Eravel's Head!?" Steel Head said with his jaw open.

The royal guard and Octavia where on a coffee, drinking and talking to each other.  
"By Celestia! I wonder how he didn't die!" I said still amused.

"I know I went a little over border... but at the time I was so mad at him that I didn't really think before acting!" She said blushing a little. "B-But that's not what we came here to discuss" She said trying to change the topic.

"Yeah... I guess so." Steel Head sighed lightly.  
"So... that letter was from you?" Octavia asked... The royal guard simply nodded in response. "Why didn't you come to see me earlier? Why send a letter?"  
"Because I couldn't leave Ponyvile..." Steel Head sighed. "For some time I still didn't had the courage to face you... I felt like I didn't deserve even look at you. When I finally found the courage to act, I found out that you were already here in Canterlot... I'm assign to look after Eravel and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, I couldn't simply leave my post..."

Octavia stood in silence for a minute, while thinking.  
"I..." She finally started. "I won't say that I understand... because I don't. What you did was way out of what I think to be forgiven." She looked in the guard's eyes. He looked down and lowered his ears.

"So... I think it's for the best that I leave you alone then." He said standing up.  
"I said that I don't understand, but that don't mean that I cannot try." She said before the pegasus leave.

Steel Head looked at her, perking his ears and she continued.

"In respect of your friend and... as an apology for almost killing him, I'll give you a chance." She said and smiled softly.  
Steel head jumped over the table, tackling the earth pony and planting a passionate kissing on her lips. She fell on her back and he stood on top of her, both losing themselves in that moment of joy.

"Excuse me" A male voice called both, making them break the kiss... It was the attendant of the coffee. "I'll have to ask for you two to behave in front of our other clients" He said serious... Octavia and Steel Head saw all the other ponies staring at the scene...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N:** Its funny how some times the story seems to be alive and you, as a writer, only put it all in words. Well, this chapter was like this... I hope you all enjoy! Also, don't forget to comment. I like to read comments ^^


	9. Knock Knock

"Do not force your wings..." Rainbow Dash almost yelled to outmatch the sound of the wind. "...Stretch them, but do not force! Find a way to make the wind help you!"  
She was flying rather slow compared to her usual speed... The sky was almost clean, only a few clouds here and there to make some shadows, and protect those who were on the ground from the summer sun. The wind was blowing on my face as I was flying... or rather, trying to fly... It was way harder than it looked... It wasn't all about force, but about technique, I had to control my whole body to make it aerodynamic, catch a good rhythm to beat my wings and at the same time, know when it was time to stop and let the wind carry me.

A week had passed since I left the hospital… During the morning I had flight classes with Rainbow Dash and during the afternoon and part of the night I had classes with Twilight Sparkle and Spike... Both were suppose to teach me about fire control and other things that anyone needed to know at my age... such as grammar and a little of history... or at least was the initial intention. And at night, I always returned to my home... the tree house that I shared with Steel Head... He didn't like to be left alone there.

Rainbow Dash flew under me really fast, making my flight unstable and I struggle a bit to recover the control. My heart was beating extremely fast by the scary she just gave me.  
"Rainbow! What the hell?" I shout at her after I recover my flight stability. "Are you trying to kill me by heart attack? Or by falling?"  
"You have to be focus while flying!" She said with a grin "Change of winds and other pegasi flying around you are real threats if you get too distracted. You need to learn how to fast respond to unexpected situations! Now, follow me!" She said and then closed her wings just enough to make a tight curve while going down.

I did the same and felt my speed increasing while diving to the ground. I felt a chill in my guts... That would be far more terrifying if I didn't had wings or if Rainbow Dash wasn't by my side.

"Stretch your wings and tilt them up at my sign!"Rainbow said as she closed her wings a little more to increase her speed... I did the same and followed her. The wind on my face got stronger and the ground was starting to get closer and closer... My heart was beating so fast and hard that I feared that it would simply explode!

"NOW!" I heard Rainbow shouting and I stretched my wings fully, tilting them up just a little. It made me brutally change the trajectory. I felt my internal organs being pulled down by gravity as the rest of my body started to go up, to the sky. A rush of adrenaline bathed my whole body and it was one of the best feelings in the world.  
"Nice job! Let's stop for now!" Dash yelled again and stared to go towards the ground to land... We where relative close to Sweet Apple Acres, in a big open field.

I tilted my body to the side and started to descend too... A strong flap of my wings to hold my body in the air before I finally made contact to the ground, landing on all fours.

"You are getting better by the day" Rainbow said coming closer to me and I stood up in two legs.  
"Thanks... Well, I have the best flier in all Equestria as my teacher, is not surprise I'm getting good at it so fast." I chuckled.

"And you are totally right!" She said, stuffing her chest with pride. "The only thing is that you should do it a little more naturally, you know? When you fly I can see that you are trying to control every part of your body and that makes harder to pay attention to your surroundings."

"So what do you recommend me to do?" I crossed my arms.  
"Let it go! You need to be part of the sky when you fly... And not control every single muscle and forgetting to pay attention to your surroundings..." She explained to me.  
"Ok... I guess I can try that tomorrow..." I sighed and sat on the grass.

She came closer to me and then kissed me softly...

"You could come sleep at my place tonight... what you think?" She said smiling with her face really close to mine.  
"Well..." I said grinning at her. "I don't know if we would have much 'sleep' you know?"  
She simply chuckled and I kissed her lips softly... My hand caressing her mane... Every time I was like this with her, it was like the rest of the world disappeared.  
"EEEWWW!" I heard a childish voice close to us and broke the kiss to see who was the annoying pony that interrupted that moment. I saw an orange pegasus foal half hidden in a nearby bush with a unicorn foal and a earth pony foal.  
"Aw c'mon! Why did you do that Scoot?" Sweetie Belle said with a frown, looking at the orange pegasus "You ruined the moment!"

"An' right when it was getting good too!" Apple Bloom Said frowning at her friend too.

"What the hay?" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Why are you girls spying on me and Eravel?" The cyan pegasus said a bit angry... her cheeks lightly red from embarrassment from being caught. It was funny how she still wanted to keep her fame as a 'thought' girl.

"We were trying to get our cute marks as spies!" "Sweetie Belle said jumping out of the bush.  
"An' we were making progress 'till sum Orange pegasus made us'all get caught!" Apple bloom shoot a glare to the orange pony.  
"Come on girls! That was gross!" Scootaloo defended herself.  
"What do you mean by 'gross'...?" Rainbow Dash said arching an eyebrow to the little foal that gulped.  
"Erm... its... its not like... you know... I mean..." The orange pegasus looked like she was starting to panic.  
"Well...?" Rainbow Dash said stepping forward.  
"We gotta go!" Sctooaloo shouted and grabbed both her friends, jumping behind the bush and then running away on her scoots, dragging a small handcar with her two friends on it.

Rainbow Dash snorted angrily at them and I simply chuckled at the scene. Coming closer to the cyan pegasus I rubbed her mane softly.  
"Calm down... they are just kids after all..." I said  
"Easy for you to say that... The time you were at the hospital all the nurses kept making jokes about... you know..." She said still frowning.  
"Well... that wasn't exactly the best place for us to do that... and we were kind of... noisy" I laughed softly and Rainbow blushed... definitely, she was really cute when blushing like that.

"S-shut up!" She said looking at me really embarrassed.  
I smiled softly at her and kissed her lightly. My life was simply perfect by her side.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After taking my lunch with Rainbow I flew over Twilight's place. As usual, she was expecting me with a frown.

"You are 5 minutes late Eravel." She said when I landed near her.  
"You can't be seriously angry at me for just five minutes... can you?" I chuckled and she rolled her eyes, annoyed.

"But of course I am! You need to learn how to be assertive!" She said starting to walk inside her home.  
I followed her inside where Spike was already waiting for me.  
"She's angry again isn't she?" He said chuckling.

"Yeap..." I nodded.  
"Twilight needs to relax more... it's not like somepony will die if you arrive few minutes later..." He said crossing his arms.  
"I totally agree" I said crossing my arms too and nodding. "I mean... I do have other things to do and-"

"WILL YOU BOTH STOP TALKING AS IF I'M NOT HERE?" Twilight shouted and Spike jumped on my arms in startle. "By Celestia! I must be paying for my sins having to endure you two!" She grumbled and walked towards a pile of books.

I let Spike down and then we both walked towards Twilight. She pulled a blackboard and started to make some schematics based in a book.

"So... continuing from where we stopped yesterday, this is the basic schematics of how the pegasi arrange the clouds to make rain. As you two can see here, they use the natural behavior of the clouds to make them...-"  
"Hey..." I whispered to Spike that was sitting next to me while Twilight kept her 'class'. "Wasn't she supposed to help us control better our fire breath?"

"I guess so..." He whispered back to me. Twilight was too busy concentrating on her own explanations to realize that we were talking.  
"Do you understand what she is saying?" I asked...  
"Not a word..." He said shrugging.  
"Why does she keep insisting on explaining these things about weather and clouds?" I asked him.

"BECAUSE!" Me and spike jumped in startle as Twilight shouted. She didn't look very happy. "Because these knowledge is important when you go flying around!" She cleared her throat. "So... As I was saying... when you see a cloud that is not pure white, be careful. That means that that clout is heavier than the other and contains lightning on it. If you hit it too hard, the clout will liberate the lighting towards the ground. But be warned! If you hit this specific cloud from below you will be struck by the lighting!"

I raised my hand, interrupting her... she rolled her eyes annoyed.  
"What Eravel?"  
"Can we start working on my fire breath?"  
"Yeah Twilight, we should be teaching him how to proper control his fire" Spike said... of course the little guy had his personal interests on it too, since he would be able to learn better use of his fire than simply send letters to the princess.

"Ok, Ok..." Twilight snorted and cleared the black board before walking towards her back door.  
I and Spike followed her outside where there would be no danger to burn her house down. Once outside, in a small area behind the library, Twilight cast a protective shield around the whole area.

"This will prevent any incident." She said and looked at us. "Well... I didn't find much about dragons on the library but with what I found I developed few theories... First, you both have different kind of breaths. Spike is a magic dragon, so he can breathe green magic flames. They don't necessary act as flames... it is more like a unicorn using magic. We can use our energy for various kinds of magic just like Spike's breath..."  
"So..." Spike said scratching his chin "I can actually use magic with my fire?"

"Precisely..." Twilight smiled at his assistant "but you are still too young to make complex things with it, so, I will teach you how to actually make your fire act like real fire… and help you control it better to avoid you burning down things when you sneeze." She send him a stern look and he blushed lightly.  
"What about my fire?" I asked.  
"Your fire is just fire, like any other common dragon. You can only burn things with it." She shrugged. It was clear that she was far more interested in Spike's breath than mine. Comprehensive thought. "Anyway... let's start out... I want both to focus and throw as much fire you can… right here." She said creating some kind of round target with her magic.

Spike stepped forward eagerly to start... he stared the target in front of him and breathed deeply, holding the air on his lungs for a few seconds before finally unleashing... a burp and a tiny green flame. From the flame a letter with the royal seal fell on the ground and Twilight unrolled the scroll, passing her eyes through the paper and arching an eyebrow.  
"Something important?" I asked curious.  
"Well..." She said rolling the scroll "only if I worked on the castles kitchen... this must be some message from the Princess to her cook. It seems that Spike accidentally pulled a random letter from her..."

"Aww... damn…." Spike said sighing.  
"Don't worry Spike..." Twilight said. "I know it only a matter of time to you be able to pull something more than letters from your fire... Your turn Eravel."  
I stepped forward and looked at the magic target. I pulled the air to my lungs, filling them t the limit... I felt a warmth in my stomach and then I simply let the air go. Instead of air a cone of fire erupted from my mouth and hit the target. Twilight stepped back because of the heat and soon the target vanished. I could only keep the fire for a few seconds until I felt my lungs empty... I rested a hand over my chest and started to pant... that wasn't as easy as it looked... it consumed a great amount of energy.

"Wow... that was amazing!" Spike said looking at the spot where the target was.

"Heh... thanks..." I said smiling at him and sitting on the ground. "But that was really exhausting!"  
"I think this must be like any other ability..." Twilight said coming closer "You need to practice a lot to be good at."  
"Yeah..." Spike said. "I guess I'll have to practice a lot to be like him"  
"Not at all..." I said. "Don't you remember when I told you that we are from different species? My specialization is to destroy things... but you don't have limits!"  
"He is right..." Twilight rubbed a hoof over Spike's head. "Don't forget that Eravel is also older than you... you just need to grow up a bit more to have more power."

"Well... I guess so..." He said still a bit insecure. "Let's keep training then!" He said cheering up a little.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It is funny how times fly when you are with the person that you love. By my counts, almost two months had passed already since me and Dash got together. Every day my love for her grew... Of course we couldn't let our relationship go public... I don't think that these ponies are ready to be so acceptable as to not judge Rainbow Dash for date, not only a dragon, but a young teenager dragon... But even like that, I was happy…. More than anything I was happy to have friends, to be able to love and be loved back.

"Very happy aren't we…?" I heard Discord's voice in the dark.

"What… why are you here?" I asked as I looked around me and saw that I was floating in an ocean of darkness.

"Oh nothing important…" he chuckled. "Just came here to say that you don't need to worry, Rainbow Dash is ok… just a few bruises, but she will be fine."

I simply stared at him in confusion.

"Oh, how silly me." He said laughing softly. "Of course you don't know what's going on... it happened before you could have done anything…. Here, let me refresh your memory." He said coming closer to me and pressing a claw against my fore head.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Eravel was under Rainbow Dash… both panting and enjoying that afterglow of a climax. She lay down on his chest and he hugged her thigh, kissing her forehead. No words were needed to be said there, only an exchange of looks was enough. He moved his head towards her and kissed the cyan pegasus… She kissed him back and then rested her head against his chest again.

"You should come live with me…" She said finally. "You know… like, permanently… not some overnights."  
"I want to… but you know that I can't leave Steel Head alone." The dragon sighed.

"He still is worried about Octavia?" She asked  
"Yeah… Is been more than a month since he last spoke to her in Canterlot… She said that she wanted time to think, but… well… he's afraid that he will be rejected in the end…"  
"To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Octavia decide that she don't want to be with him" She said and sighed. "What happen between them... is not something that you can simply forgive."

"Yeah... but still..." I caressed her mane. "I really hope she don't turn him down... that would brake him in ways he wouldn't be able to recover so soon."

Suddenly both heard a thundering roar echoing through the sky. Rainbow Dash felt a shiver don her spine with that and Eravel quickly lift his upper body.

"What the hay was that!?" Rainbow Dash said jumping out of the cloud bed and rushing to the window to see what was that.

Against the orange light of the sunset, a huge shadow was approaching fast and that form... it was no doubt... A full grown dragon was coming closer and closer to her house. Eravel saw that too and without a hint of doubt he jumped out of the window, spreading his wing… he stood flying in place and roared at the adult dragon, trying to send a message for him not to get any closer... Compared to the thundering voice of the adult, Eravel had nothing but a tiny and even funny roar.

The adult dragon roared again, and Eravel felt that as a threat... something at the back of his mind recognized the sound as something familiar... and at the same time something to be feared. In a desperate attempt to keep the full grown dragon from reaching Dash's house he started to focus his energy... gathering power in some point near his stomach. When he was at its limit he threw the bigger fire ball he had ever managed to pull.

The ball flew fast and hit right on the adult dragon's face... but it simply vanished with no effect at all. The adult then opened his mouth and Eravel saw a huge amount of fire coming from it. It was something that he never saw on his life! The teenager dragon flew inside the house and grabbed Rainbow Dash, crossind the room and got out from another window. He barely managed to take the cyan pegasus out and the huge ball of fire hit the house.  
The entire house exploded when hit by the fire projectile, like the clouds were made of some kind of explosive material... the shock wave of the explosion send Eravel and Rainbow Dash spinning in the air. Both spread their wings to gain stability and avoid a fatal fall.  
"My house!" Rainbow Dash had her eyes widened as she saw many scattered pieces of clouds floating away and disappearing. "My... oh my gosh... my stuff was in there!" A sharp pain hit the pegasus heart, knowing that she had lost every piece of mobile, every poster, card, book... everything had been consumed by that hellish fire or was now scattered around the few pieces of cloud that didn't disappeared and were still floating around..

From the scrambles of the cloud house, the adult dragon appeared. Rainbow Dash, filled with rage, flew towards the adult dragon. Eravel flew right after her... The full grown dragon opened its jaws and breathed a cone of fire towards the cyan pegasus. The teenager dragon reached her just in time as he grabbed Rainbow's tail and pulled as hard as he could to the side, sending her spinning towards a cloud that was still floating. On the cloud was what was left of her wardrobe and the pegasus body smashed against it. The next second the cone of flames hit Eravel. He felt like a thousand burning fists had hit him at the same time… the small dragon started to fall, unconscious.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, groaning in pain... she saw Eravel falling with many brunt marks all over. The adult dragon grabbed his body and then started to fly away... The cyan pegasus stood up and tried to fly, but soft cry of pain escaped her mouth as she found that one of her wings was damaged. She could only watch as the teenager dragon was taken away from her... and she could do nothing to prevent it.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A groan escaped my mouth as I felt a light rush of pain through my body. It was like I had received a hell of a beating. As I rolled, trying to stand up, I felt that I was in some kind of hay bed... that was probably why my body was hurting so much and..- Wait a second... I don't have a hay bed!

I shoot my eyes open and looked around me. It was a dark cave... All the light came from the big entrance and aside that, there was nothing else illuminating the place. The memories of the talk with Discord and what had happen with Rainbow Dash hit me like a rock, and my gut was instantly filled with fear of the worst.

I felt something nuzzling my neck... Making me jump on my feet in startle... Right there, what I swore was just a rock, was the biggest creature I ever saw... A dragon with blue and green scales... It could gobble me in a single bite if it wanted... but despite that terrifying look, the dragon had a smile while looking at me... not a grin or a vicious smile... but a tender one... like it cared a lot about me.  
"Welcome home... my son." The dragon said...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N: **So… here we have! Another piece of my deviations… next chapter is already being written. As always, I want to know what crossed your mind after reading this… Was it good? Was it bad? You want to punch me in the face or maybe give me a cake?

Anyway, hope to see the opinions of those who waste their precious time reading this ^^  
thank y'all!


	10. Land of dragons

Rainbow Dash started to open her eyes slowly... she could feel a soft bed under her and there was a few colorful blurs around her. She closed her eyes with a groan and started to sit in the bed, rubbing her head. It was obvious that she was in a hospital room.

"What happen...? Where am I?" She said not quite sure of how she ended up there.

As the cyan pegasus woke up and started to move, her friends that were gathered around her bed felt a lot more relaxed.  
"We were going to ask you the same thing Rainbow..." Steel Head said stepping closer. "I found you on a cloud between what was left of a wardrobe... also there was several other clouds scattered around where your house used to be"  
"My... house...?" Rainbow asked confused for a second... but then all the memories from before she wake up on that bed came rushing back. "Oh my gosh! Eravel! Where is Eravel?" She said grabbing Steel Head's head, pulling it closer.  
"I-I don't know! Calm down Rainbow! What happen there?" The royal guard said pulling his head free from her grasp.

"We... we were attacked." She said letting her fore hoofs fall limp on the bed.  
"A DRAGON?" Steel head and the girls exclaimed at the same time. Fluttershy just whimpered in fear of the idea of being attacked by a dragon.  
"Oh no..." Twilight said "And where is Eravel... don't... don't tell me that he..."  
"Eravel was taken by it!" Rainbow Said covering her face with her hoofs. "But... But he was hit by a cone of fire... I... I saw him falling, and he looked hurt..." Her eyes started to fill with tears at the thought.

"Don't worry..." Twilight said passing hoof over her shoulder. "Dragons are very resistant to fire... He was just unconscious..."  
"I... I knew that something like this would happen." Fluttershy said in almost a whisper... Everypony on the room turned to look at her, their eyes demanding an explanation.  
"Dragons... are very protective of their children..." She started speaking in that soft voice. "...and they are capable of the most extreme acts to see that their children will be ok. The dragon that attacked your house, Rainbow, was probably Eravels mother... or the mother of the egg that was used as a vessel to his soul."  
"But... wasn't the egg supposed to be dead?" Steel Head asked.  
"Even if it was..." Fluttershy said looking at him "...the mother probably saw her baby walking and flying, and so, she felt in the right to claim her 'son'..."

"And how in tarnation did she saw him in first place?" Applejack arched an eyebrow.  
"Maybe when he was taking flying lesions…" Twilight said "…But I don't think that this is important now..."

"Agreed with Twilight." Rainbow Dash said stepping out of the bed. "What we need to know is go where he is and get him back!"  
"Rainbow, what do you think you are doing?" Rarity said stepping in her way.  
"Going after Eravel... He is at the land of the dragons, and I' m going to take him back!" Rainbow stomped a hoof on the ground.  
"Right after waking up?" Rarity pointed. "You can't go after him... he is in the land of dragons... and you know how dangerous that place is!"

"I agree..." Twilight spoke "We should contact the Princess about this..."

"Let's go then!" Pinkie Pie chirped "A great adventure in the land of the dragons!"  
Everypony around her simply facehoofed...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

My breath was heavy and my heart pounding fast... I never had the opportunity to try run in all fours but this was proving to be quite useful as I was obvious faster than a biped. Right after me was three smaller dragons with sharp teeth... All of them trying to take a bite of me.

The place where I was resembled a wasteland. Rivers of magma coming from the mouth of huge volcanoes... hardly any plant around... lakes of boiling water and deposit of gems around them... Despite all that there were many dragons living here, like it was some kind of paradise for all of them.

"Why don't you stop and play with your brothers?" The female green and blue dragon spoke, walking right next to me... she didn't need to run to keep up with my speed.  
"Because they are NOT my brothers! And for the last time I'M NOT YOUR SON!" I shouted at top of lungs, spreading my wings and flying out of the reach of those little monsters... standing a little higher than the female dragon head.  
"Don't say that... you hurt my feelings like this, son!" The female dragon said looking serious at me.  
I let out a groan... what the hell was wrong with this dragoness? First she destroy Rainbow's house... then she almost kill her. Now she kidnapped me and is claiming to be my mother!

"I'm not your son! For Odin's sake, leave me alone!" I shouted and started to fly away from her as fast as I could.  
As I looked back I saw her spreading her wings to chase after me. I speed up and when she was approaching I spun to the side, diving towards the ground and flying low... Flying so close to the ground was difficult for her because of her size... I flew towards a pool of boiling water and then threw a ball of fire at it, making some of the water to instant evaporate, creating a thick curtain of steam... Using it for cover I dove inside the pool and saw as my 'mother' passed above me. I discovered that my body was extremely resistant to heat after I got hit by that dragoness fire and woke up without a single burn.

I held my breath as much as I could and then emerged grasping for air. Some drops ended in my throat making me choke a little... but at least I was free from that crazy female for while. I sighed and then got out of the water... I needed to find a better place to hide before she came back. It was weird how most of dragons over there lived. I always imagined dragons as lonesome creatures... feral beasts ready to slaughter anyone that came too close... But I found out that they were very social with one another.

This was some kind of paradise for the new born and young dragons. They came here every few centuries to lay their eggs and take care of the children until they were old enough to start traveling with their parents. Every dragon worked with the other to raise the cubs and all the cubs always played together. And that was one of the problems. I was considered something between a cub and a teenager dragon, and that means that I was suppose to watch all the newborns with my 'mother' and 'play' with them too… as a chew toy if needed… But, despite that cooperative nature, fights and violent 'games' was something very common here… especially among the teenagers and other young males.

After a while, I finally found a nice spot to hide from that crazy dragoness and to rest in peace. It was some kind of crack on the ground that she would never fit in... I jumped inside and breathed in relief... I was just going to wait till it was dark so I could eat some gems, drink some water and then come back here to keep hiding.  
Of course I could try risk an escape, but I had no idea of what direction Ponyvile or Canterlot was... and I trusted that Celestia or Luna wouldn't let me hanging here... or at least I hoped for that.

"Hiding from mom?" A male voice came from behind me making me jump in startle. Behind me was a male young dragon with blue scales, a little smaller than a full grown. He had just enough size so his head and long neck could fit in the crack I was hiding… the rest of his body was outside.

"She is NOT my mother... and don't startle me like that! Damn!" I said with a hand over my chest, trying to avoid my heart from breaking my ribs and jumping out of my body.

The blue dragon laughed softly at me and got closer.  
"I know..." He said with his head really close to me, to be able to look better at me. "I'm sorry for my mother's behavior is just... well… you have to understand that is never easy for a mother to lose a child."

"Your mother? You mean... that this body was supposed to be your brother... right?" I said feeling a bit guilty now... I mean, I was wearing his brother's body as my own.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it." He said smiling softly. "I know you are not to be blamed for what happen... I mean, this kind of thing happens, and it's no one's fault at all."

"Yeah... I guess so..." I scratched the back of my neck. "But... wait a second... why are you so... docile?"  
"Docile? What do you mean? "He arched an eyebrow.  
"Well... so far, every dragon around looked very aggressive, you know? Like... they enjoy fighting each other..." So much like my old home world...  
"Probably because I was rise with my father, far away from here..." He said shrugging "He is one of those dragons that can actually use magic and don't really enjoy how other dragons act here... probably because he grew among ponies"  
"And where is your father right now?" I asked.  
"On his cave... Far west from here, near the griffon territory." The blue dragon explained. "I was sent here because my father knew that, after he gave the egg away to Celestia, mother wouldn't be so... comprehensive... And so I'm here to keep an eye on her... and on you too now... And before you ask." He said before I could speak, as if reading my mind. "I wasn't able to stop mom from attacking your marefriend... My father is a powerful magic dragon, but I'm not... thus, I'm no match for my mother... I'm sorry for what happen."  
I looked on my mind for something to say about it... but he had covered pretty much all the problems I had thought about.

"Ok... At least I know that Rainbow is not really hurt." I said with a sigh... "By the way, what is your name?"  
"I'm called Zerachiusarthos... But most call me Zera... My mother's name is Tharianee" He said.  
"Wow... fancy names" I chuckled.  
"What about you? I suppose is not really appropriate for me to call you by my dead brother's name" He said.  
"I'm Eravel... nice too meet you." I said and smiled a bit.

"My pleasure." he said bowing his head a little. "So... you know sooner or later she will find you here right? And that she will easily thorn this crack open to reach you."  
"Yeah... is just temporary. I just need to regain my energy to fly to another hiding place." I said looking up, just to be sure that Tharianee wasn't there yet.  
"Or... you could give up" He said crossing his fore legs.  
"Excuse me?" I blinked a few times not sure what he meant with that.  
"Listen... you can keep hiding from her... or, give up and try to live with her and the other dragons around... I'm sure you will learn a lot here and also, when the rescue party arrive, there are less chances of any kind of conflict"

"Well... maybe..." He had a point there... If I started to socialize with them, when the ponies... or whoever the princesses choose to send after me... arrived, I could simply talk my way out. This idea was a lot more attractive than simply hide for Odin's know how much time...  
"I better get going or I'll ruin this hiding place of yours" Zera said starting to pull his head up. "Think about what I said... the other dragons around may seem brutes, but they are not bad at heart."  
The blue dragon vanished from my sight and I simply sat back, resting against the stone walls. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, trying to relax... there was someone that I wanted to talk to, and I could only do that when I was asleep...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The royal sisters were in the throne room... both wearing a frown of worry while looking at the seven ponies in front of them. Their concern only grew as these ponies kept talking their tale about an event that didn't happen in more than a millennium... A dragon attacking a pony.

Many years ago, when Celestia parents were still alive, the elder sister was sent to deal with a threat at the borders of Equestria. Dragons attacking villages and hunting the inhabitants to feed themselves...

After days of trying to convince the dragons to stop, Celestia didn't saw alternative but the use of force. It was the first time she ever needed to use her power for violence. Those days when she banished the dragons from the borders still haunted the memories of the Sun Goddess... And now she feared that, once more, her wrath would need to be unleashed.

"So, the dragon just took Eravel?" Luna spoke. That make Celestia come back to reality and stop wandering in her memories.  
"Yes princess" Twilight said "Rainbow Dash was then found at the entrance of Ponivyle with her wing lightly injured."  
"Wait a second." Rainbow said to Twilight, catching the attention of everypony in there. "I thought you girls found me near my house!"  
"Nop..." Steel Head said "I was the one that found you at the entrance of the city..."  
"But... how?" She looked confused.  
"Maybe somepony took you there?" Rarity said.  
"But why only to the entrance of the city and not to a hospital?" Twilight said.  
"Maybe it wasn't a pony at'all" Applejack said. Everypony looked at her. "Ya'll say tha' the dragon only took Eravel... What if it also took R.D. here to the entrance of the city after seeing that she was injured?"

"Hunf! After almost turning me into ashes?" Rainbow said frowning "I doubt!"  
"In any case, we need to go take Eravel back!" Steel Head said stomping hard. "Princesses..." He said bowing. "I request your permission to travel to the land of dragons to rescue him."

"Denied." Celestia said, making Steel Head look at her in disbelief.  
"What? Why?" He asked standing up.  
"I won't allow any of my little ponies to get hurt. I'll go personally to take him back." She said serious.  
"I don't think this is a good idea dear sister" Luna said. "We do have duties here at the palace... Especially you."  
"But Luna..." Celestia started but the Moon Goddess cut her.  
"Listen... you are not the same as you were before sister..." Luna stroke Celestia's face with a hoof. "Look inside and tell me... will you be able to focus on the task at hand, without letting the duties here at the castle get in your way?"  
Celestia sighed and closed her eyes in defeat.  
"No... you are right dear sister..."  
Luna kissed her elder sister forehead and then stepped back.  
"I'll go and let you informed of the situation... Also I'll take Steel Head with me too. I don't think he will be able to stay behind when his best friend is in peril." The dark alicorn said looking at the royal guard.

"And don't you forget about me!" Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "I maybe not at my top form, but don't think even for a second that I'll let you go without me!"  
"But Rainbow dear... your injuries..." Rarity started but was brutally cut by Rainbow Dash.  
"Screw that! I'll go walking if I have to!" She stomped hard on the floor. "I'll give a piece of my mind to that overgrown lizard!" the cyan pegasus snorted.  
"I will go too." Twilight said. "I won't miss this opportunity to visit the land of dragons again... Also, Spike is worried sick with Eravel, and he won't forgive me if you guys go without him."  
"Ah'll go too. Y'know... t'make sure the little fella is ok." Applejack said.  
"I'll stay and get a 'welcome back' party ready!" Pinkie Pie bounced around.  
"Erm... I... I will stay with Pinkie Pie... if you girls don't mind..." Flutershy said almost hiding behind her mane.  
"I'll stay too." Rarity said "I won't be of much help out there so I rather stay and help the preparations for your return"

With all said, the bearers of the elements returned to Ponyvile to get ready for the trip. Steel head went to Canterlot's barracks, to get himself ready. Everypony were really excited and at the same, apprehensive with the travel they were about to make.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

That night, Steel Head went to the capitol's coffee... He was without his armor, just wanting to relax... A simple meal of daisy sandwich and a big cup coffee with milk was making him company...

"You look kind of lonely here..." he heard a female voice behind him.  
He turned his head to see who it was and his heart stopped... it was Octavia.

"Are you just going to stare me or are you going to invite me to sit?" She chuckled.  
"Oh! Yeah... I'm sorry!" He stood up fast. He hit the table and made his drink spill all over his coat. "Oh damn it!" He cursed seeing his white fur all stained by the brown and warm drink.  
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Octavia said getting closer.  
"Don't worry... it was my fault..." He sighed... what a waste of a good drink.

"Well... why don't you come to my place?" Octavia said. "You can shower there..."  
"Look... Octavia, I don't think-" Steel head started, but a gray hoof on his mouth made him shut up.  
"Just come ok...? I really want to talk to you and... I don't think you will be well aware of what I have to say if your coat is all dirty like that."  
Steel head nodded and then both started to walk... The whole way to Octavia's place was made in silence... they barely looked at each other. After only a few minutes they arrived and climbed to the fifth floor, where Octavia's apartment was. She let him go in first and then pointed towards the bathroom.

As he walked to her bathroom he noticed that her house was impeccable as ever... not a single speck of dust was visible... even the plants looked like they were arranged to be perfect. The white pegasus, closed the door and stepped into the shower... he was trying not to over-think about this situation, but it was kind of impossible... Octavia was about to give him the answer, after a moth of silence... she was finally going to let him know what was passing through her mind.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the gray mare playing her Cello... probably she had bought a new one... after all, the old one had been smashed against Eravel's head. It was a slow melody... something he never heard in his life... it was like she was using her heart to play the strings. It had a really personal touch.

He finished the bath and then stepped outside. After drying his coat and mane, he went to the living room where Octavia was still playing. Steel head simply sat there, watching the love of his life playing... His heart was beating in the slow rhythm of the song... she really had a special talent for that.

When she finished playing, he slowly clapped his hoofs, smiling tenderly to her.

"It was beautiful..." he said standing up and getting closer to her.

"I'm glad you liked it... it is something original from me... I made during this month." She answered and stepped closer to him.

"Steel..." Octavia said and sighed lightly, gathering courage. "I've been thinking during all this time we were apart... At first I thought that my answer would be simple. A very simple and clear NO."  
Steel Head lowered his ears and looked at the floor... his chest already aching from the idea of rejection.  
"BUT..." She continued. "After hearing that you are going to travel to the land of dragons tomorrow... I saw that you are more important to me than I first though...I mean... Just the possibility of you not returning makes me want to cry... so... my answer is-" She wasn't able to finish her phrase.  
Steel Head had tackled her with a deep and passionate kiss. She closed her eyes and kissed him back... A long kiss uniting the two ponies... Steel Head never felt so alive and so good on his entire life...

Suddenly, the whole building was shaken when the entire front wall crumbled. Steel head looked through where the wall was supposed to be and saw a huge dark Dragon staring at him... The dragon opened his mouth and then a hellish fire erupted in a wave of destruction. The white pegasus felt the immense heat hitting him and then... he felt nothing else.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N:** Here you go… hope you guys enjoyed this one… about the song Octavia was playing, search for "Nearer My God to Thee (for 9 cellos) – ThePianoGuys"… That was the music that I was listening at the moment.  
Thank you for sparing your time here, and as always, comment! I want to know what I did right, what I did wrong, what you guys liked in this chapter and things that maybe you guys disliked. ^^


	11. And then

Steel Head saw that wave of fire approaching... the heat was like the hell gates had opened right in front of him. He only got a slit of second to look to his side and see Octavia being engulfed by flames and then...

The royal guard felt the hard wooden floor against his face. He opened his eyes looking around, slowly grasping the real world. He had half fallen from his bed and was in a really awkward position. He was face planted against the wooden floor while his flank was still on the bed.

The bed was a simple bunker bed, just like any other bed in the small rooms of the royal barracks. With a groan, the white pegasus got out of his bed and stood up. His heart was still racing and his coat was all covered in sweat. That was probably the worst nightmare he ever had in years... and it made something clear to him.  
He stepped outside the room, not caring to take his armor with him. He went to the barracks bathroom to take a quick shower and, once he was dry, Steel Head took off to the night sky. It was really weird to fly without his armor but he found out that he was a lot more agile and fast without the extra weight.

Like a shooting star, the royal guard flew through Canterlot, reaching the residential area of the capitol. Silent as a ghost, he started to descend and landed in a balcony. He walked as silent as he could and knocked lightly on the glass door. A few seconds without any answer from the resident and Steel head knocked again. This time, a dark silhouette moved inside, reaching the glass door and opening it.  
Octavia stepped outside the dark room. The pale light of the moon bathing her gray body and sleepy face. She rubbed her eyes a few times, not really believing that Steel Head was standing there at 3 AM.

"Steel...? what the hey are you doing here at this time!?" She said and let out a yawn.  
"Sorry... but I had a nightmare..." He said stepping closer.  
Octavia arched an eyebrow.  
"A nightmare... you came to visit me, at 3 AM because of a nightmare..." She said feeling a sharp point of annoyance poking her head with that words. What was him? A foal!?  
"Yes... I dreamed that I'd lose you..." He said looking deep in her eyes... that caught her attention. "In a few hours I'll be leaving to the lands of the Dragons... and there is the possibility that I don't return."

"Land of... what?" Octavia was very awake now. "Why are going there?"  
"Eravel was kidnapped and I'll be going there to bring him back..." He said serious. "And after my dream I realized that I can't go without giving you at least one more kiss..." He said and approached Octavia.  
"Steel... no." She said stepping back.  
That 'no' hit him in the chest like a spear... but before he could say something Octavia started talking.  
"I want that kiss after you come back to me. Understand? You MUST come back!" She said looking him in the eyes.  
Steel head was speechless for a few seconds but then he grinned and nodded.  
"Ok... but! I'll want a lot more than just a kiss when I come back!" He said and spread his wings.  
Octavia chuckled lightly and watched as the royal guard fly away... The reason why she kept him away all this time was because she was arranging all the necessary things to move back to Ponyvile and live with him... It was suppose to be a surprise.

Steel head never felt so light before... so... focused in a task. Go to the land of the dragons, get Eravel back without dying and live happy ever after with Octavia... It seemed simply enough and with Luna by his side, what could go wrong?.

As he was approaching the barracks to get a few more hours of sleep, Steel head caught something moving from the corner of his eye. He stopped in the air, just floating while looking around... there was nothing. Maybe it was just his imagination?

He simple shrugged and turned to finish his flight... When he turned, the royal guard found himself face to face with a huge dark blue dragon. The dragon had a pair of ethereal wings... something hat resembled Princess Luna's mane and tail. The eyes of the beast were bright yellow and to stare on them was almost like stare on Princess Celestia's eyes. You could feel the wisdom that could only be achieved through the ages...  
Steel Head had only enough time to gasp and the dragon opened his mouth. A small wave of green flame engulfed the royal guard and when the flames were gone... so was the white pegasus. Not even a speck of ash was left of him... The huge blue dragon then simply flew away, as silent as he came... vanishing in the night.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"You are joking... right?" I said looking at Discord. He just laughed softly. We both were in the usual scenario... A green planice, with a few trees here and there... Blues sky with pink clouds floating around and the sun was high in the sky.  
"Not at all..."Discord said. "And don't think that you have any option left... you will do that, or else, somepony might get hurt."  
I closed my fists for a second... and sighed in defeat... he was right... I had no options left. It had to be done.  
"Ok... I will do my part. But I hope that you do yours too, or else I'll be in deep trouble!" I said pointing a finguer towards the draconic creature.  
"Don't you worry your little mortal mind with that... Discord always have things under control!" He said stuffing his chest in pride.m I arched an eyebrow and crossed my arms.  
"Or something like that..." He completed after seeing my disbelief face.

"But I can't believe that..." I said still very shocked. "I mean... to use me like a bite... they all will be walking straight into a trap!"  
"Yes... and something is preventing me from telling Celestia or Luna of the dangers..." Discord sighed. "But if you manage to do what I told you to do, everything will be fine."

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Luna, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight were all gathered next to a dark blue carriage with four pegasi attached to it. The pegasi where royal guards, but they were part of Luna's royal guards. Their coat was of a dark blue and their eyes were yellow, just like a cat. All of them wore dark armors and had bat like wings... They surely looked a lot more intimidating than Celestia's guards.

"Where the hay is that pegasus?" Rainbow Dash snorted. Steel head was really late and the mares were starting to lose their patience.

"I'm sure he has a good explanation... let's just wait a little bit longer." Twilight sighed. Spike was on her back, sharing that feeling of impatience... The safety of his 'brother' was at risk and they shouldn't be wasting any more time!

Everypony was gathered near the train station... and and it was starting to gather a lot of attention from the civilians. Luna wasn't exactly the most popular princess among their subjects. They all knew that she had come back, but many didn't had the chance to even look at her.

After just a few more minutes, a white pegasus wearing a golden armor and carrying something on his back, landed near the group.

"Sorry for being late!" Steel Head said panting.  
"What in tarnation did'all take this long to arrive?" Applejack scowled him.  
"I had to grab something back in Ponyvile... I'm really sorry!" He said putting his front hooves together and bowing his head.  
"Enough..." Luna said before any other mare had the chance to say something. "We already wasted much of our precious time. Everypony, to the carriage." She commanded.  
With that said, Applejack, Twilight and, with a lot of persuasion, Rainbow Dash, got inside the carriage. Steel Head and Luna started to fly and right after, the dark royal guards pulled the carriage to the sky.

"So... why did you got so late?" Spike asked to the royal guard.  
"I had to grab two things that Eravel will like to see." Steel Head said smiling... He then Gently dropped the objects that he was carrying on his back inside the carriage.

Those were long objects, all warped in cloth. Spike started to unfold the cloth and his eyes filled with comprehension. There, he could see the two objects that Eravel liked most: His sword and his axe.

"I think it was a bad idea to bring these..." Twilight said. "I remember what it is like when Eravel use these weapons... And let's say that it tends to get pretty... messy."  
"Messy?" Rainbow Dash said arching and eyebrow. "It usually turns into a blood bath! What's wrong with you Steel? You shouldn't have brought these weapons!"

"Well... what if we need him to use them?" Steel asked, trying to defend himself.  
"That's why I'm here..." Luna said in a neutral tone. She didn't seems to care of the consequences of Eravel getting his hands on his weapons.  
"Sorry girls..." Steel head sighed "but I kind of put myself on his place... If it was me, I would have loved to have my armor as soon as possible."  
"I know Eravel too..." Spike stepped to defend the royal guard "And I know that he will love to see his weapons..." In fact, Spike didn't know that... he was just siding with Steel Head because he trusted that the white pegasus knew Eravel like no pony else.

Rainbow Dash didn't agree to that... she almost died twice because of those weapons and she hated to even think of Eravel going out of control. It was impressive that he once defeated a Hydra, but she well remembered that he almost died there. Dragons where not like hydras... they were far more powerful. Not only that, they wouldn't be anywhere near a hospital... And she didn't exactly trusted Luna's healing powers. The Princess of the Night was an alicorn, more powerful than any other pony, except from her sister... but she didn't had the knowledge that a medic unicorn had.

Aside from that initial disagreement, the rest of the trip was quite peaceful. They had to stop when the night arrived and set out a camp. Luna didn't seem very pleased seeing everypony going to sleep after she had risen the moon... This was something that she never really accepted well and watching her own guards going to sleep too was very... disappointing.

Twilight saw that and walked near the Princess of the Night.  
"I think you should get some rest too Princess." The purple unicorn said smiling softly.

"I thank you for your concern, but it is rather strange for the Princess of the Night sleep right after she had risen the moon and lighted the stars..." Luna said a bit cold.  
"I know... but you stood up all day and we need you to be at full force when we arrive at the land of the dragons..." Twilight tried to reason with the dark blue alicorn.

Luna just let out a sigh.

"You are right Twilight Sparkle... but that don't make it any easier." Luna said laying on the grass end closing her eyes to sleep. Twilight approached the princess and laid right next to her... almost as if she was comforting her friend.

A few hours later, Steel Head opened his eyes and checked if everypony was still sleeping... Not a single movement from his companions. A few more minutes passed and, when he was 100% sure that nopony was going to wake, the white pegasus stood up and walked away in silence.

He didn't wandered too far though... Only enough so nopony could hear him or see him. Once he was out of sight, Steel head opened hi mouth and let out an almost inaudible screech. That sound was almost immediately answered and a brown pegasus landed in front of Steel Head. The new pegasus was hiding in a cloud and had followed the group almost the entire trip.

"I need you to go and report." Said Steel Head in a serious tone. "Celestia is not coming, her sister Luna is. Far as I observed, Luna is more impulsive than her elder sister and can be very dangerous."

The brown pegasus nodded. And then spoke.  
"What about his weapons?"  
"They are here, both of them..." Steel Head answered.  
The brown pegasus then handed him a small flask with a green potion.

"Apply this to the blades... and make sure the the sword is still working... If we want Celestia here, the sword if the fastest way to summon her."  
Steel Head nodded and then stashed the flask in a small pouch under his armor. Without more words, the brown pegasus flew away and Steel Head returned to the camp. Once there, he grabbed Eravel's weapons and poured just a bit of the potion on the blades... the edge glowed lightly with a greenish light and then turned back to normal... The white pegasus stashed the weapons back where he got it, warping it all in the cloth, and went back to his spot to sleep.

As the sun rose on the horizon, Luna started to wake up everypony to finish the trip. They where only a few hours from their destination now... And each second their apprehension grew more and more. The group didn't had a clue of what they would find once they got there and could only hope for the best.

The ground under them started to quickly change from a the green grass to the reddish dirt. The air started to get hotter and was a little difficult to breath. They all were forced to land and continue the trip on foot. Soon enough, they started to see smoke coming from the mouth of very active volcanoes. Rivers of magma coming from them... the heat there was really intense for a pony that is used to lower temperatures.

"Bah'Celestia!" Applejack said taking her stetson off. "How can anypony endure this heat?"  
"Hold on a second." Twilight said and her horn started to glow. A purple flash erupted from the tip of the horn and everypony could feel the ambiance temperature going down untill it was something more comfortable.

"Thanks Twi." Apple jack said letting out a sigh of relief.  
"No worries..." She said smiling softly. "I forgot to cast this spell on us before we enter here... I used the same spell when me, Rarity and Dash came to rescue Spike. It's a simple shield spell that can canalize the brain frequencies in short waves of-..." She stopped the explanation when everypony was looking at her with expressions of confusion. "Well... ahem... Basically is a shield that isolate you in the ideal temperature."  
"I think we should not waste anymore time..." Luna said starting to walk... Her guards were ordered to stay in the carriage, ready to transport the ponies out of there if needed.

The others followed the princess in silence. Every step they took the landscape looked more and more inhospitable... it was then that they saw a small winged crature, flying at it's top speed towards them. The creature started to approach fast and soon they could see Eravel screaming something.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The plan was simple... I only had to sneak out and run to where discord had indicated me, find the group that came to rescue me and then leave... But of course that luck wasn't on my side. No sir... I HAD to stumble on a loose rock while sneaking on the ground, where I was going to attract less attention... and the rock had to roll down the hill and land right into the tail of an older red dragon.

Let's just say that if one teenager dragon enraged is bad... six more are six time worst! I was flying for my life now... almost literally. I knew I wasn't going to die... maybe they would just beat me senseless... but in the end my "mother" would find me and then bad thing would happen.  
I flapped my wings as hard as I could and started to gain altitude... The six teenager dragons followed me just the way I wanted. Once I was high enough I simply closed my wings and started to dive like a missile. This was a small trick that Rainbow Dash helped me to perfect... and I just hoped it would work.

I looked back for an instant and saw that the others were still chasing me. I breathed deep... filling my lungs with air... the ground was getting closer and closer... the wind was hitting my eyes and making me shed some tears... when I was close enough to the ground I spread my wings, tilting them in 30º. I felt all my joints hurt when my whole body suddenly change from a 90º fall to a horizontal flight. All the speed I had gathered in the fall was now pushing me forward so fast that If something appeared in front of me I would certainly collide. Behind me I heard the sound of three of them hitting the ground, just like I did so many times until I finally perfect this stunt.

Then I heard... the worst thing ever... A thundering roar that I recognized as my 'self proclaimed mother'. I felt a chill down my spine and the urge to speed up. I had to reach the group that was send to rescue me and then flee!

At a distance I saw them... A group of six ponies and a baby dragon. I dove to the ground, and started to scream at top of my lungs.  
"RUN! WE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

It was then I felt something hit my back, sending me to the ground. I hit the floor and rolled a few times before stop. My head was spinning and someone was laughing hard at me... It was three teenager dragons that were chasing me.

"Eravel!" I heard Rainbow Dash yelling and then I felt her hooves around my head... softly pulling up to look at me. "Oh my gosh... you are not hurt are you?" She said full of worry.

"I'm ok... I think..." I said coughing lightly and then standing up.

The cyan pegasus glared at the three teenager dragons... Her stare was almost so strong as Fluttershy's.

"We got to get out of here... now!" I said grabbing her wing and pulling towards the rest of the group.  
"And where do you THINK you are going, vermin?" one of the dragons said smirking. "We are going to teach you a lesson that you will never forget!" He said and then him and the other two charged at me.

The three of them opened their mouths and let out a blast of flames. I jumped in front of RD and spread my wings, embracing her to protect her fragile body from the flames. I hear the flames hitting something... but felt nothing. Behind me was a dark blue energy and walking towards us was Lune with her horn glowing.

"BEGONE DRAGONS!" She shouted in her royal voice and the three dragons flinched at it. "WE SHALL NOT LET ANY HARM FALL OVER OURS SUBJECTS!"  
I didn't saw that Luna herself had come. This was perfect! With an alicorn on our side, the fight was already won. But then... my bad luck showed up again.

It happen so fast that no one had the chance to properly react. A cone of blue flames fell over Luna's body, turning her into stone. Right next to our group, a mighty blue dragon landed... he had ethereal wings that resembled Luna's mane and tail... his whole body was even bigger than my 'mother'. He was truly a Behemoth.

The two dark royal guards charged against the dragon but he simply used the flames against them, turning both into stone too. Their heavy bodies fell on the ground but to our relief they did not shattered.

"ERAVEL!" I heard a male voice. I looked back at the group of ponies and saw Steel Head. He flew towards me, carrying something on his hooves. One of the teenager dragons threw a ball of fire against him. He was too far away for me to intercept the projectile... I had to watch him being hit by the flames and fall.

His body hit the floor and rolled several times, full of brunt marks. Me and Dash hurried to help him but he was unconscious. I grabbed the package that was near him and unfold the objects all covered in cloth. The idiot had brought me my weapons... As If I could take a dragon of that size on my own... But at least now I could provide enough time for them to escape.  
"Rainbow... run." I whispered to her.  
"What?" She shouted. "Are you nuts? As if I would really leave you behind like this!"  
"Damn it Ranbow!" I shouted at her. "I need you to get out of here now!"  
"I don't care!" She yelled back. "I'll stay with you no mater what!"  
It was no use... I breathed deeply and looked at Rainbow.  
"Ok... listen... tell Twilight to send a letter to Celestia. I'll take care of these three here... While I do that, distract that... thing... and please... take care... I need you safe"  
She nodded and then kissed my lips... I kissed her back, knowing that this was probably the last time we kissed.

"Hey look at that... the vermin has a marefriend!" One of the dragon shouted and the three started to laugh hard.  
"Let's get her first then!" The second said and the three pairs of eyes focus on the cyan pegasus... MY cyan pegasus.

"Under my dead body!" I roared and unsheathe my sword.

My axe and my sword in my hands again. It felt like ages since I last used them... I just hoped that I still remembered how to do it properly... AND that the blades where in good shape.

The first dragon charged in, swinging his arms against my head. I crouched to dodge his claws and my sword meet his stomach. I heard him gasping for air and falling to the side.

The other two charged at me at the same time. The second teenager opened his wings and the third threw a fire ball against me. I jumped to dodge the flames but the second was waiting for me in the air. He kicked me right in the face, sending me to the ground.

I rolled to the side, recovering my breath... right in time to crouch and dodge another fire ball. I threw a fire ball against the second that was in the air... and he dodged. Bu that gave me enough time to reach the third and his him on the side of his head with my axe. The third dragon fell to the side unconscious and I turned to face the last one.

The second teenager threw a cone of fire against me and I countered with my own breath of fire. Both flames colliding against each other and making a big flash. The remain teenager took advantage of that and charged against me. He hit my stomach with his head and sand me rolling a few times on the ground. When I was about to stand up he landed on my chest and opened his mouth. I saw the flames forming to hit me right in the face.

"Leave'im alone yer overgrown lizard!" I heard Applejack's voice.

The dragon looked at the side right in time to her buck approaching. Her powerful hind hooves hit him right on the face and the dragon landed on his back, unconscious too.

"Thanks AJ!" I said standing up.  
"We al' have a big problem to deal with right now!" She said and I saw a cyan blur flying in circles against the adult dragon... He looked extremely frustrated because no mater what he did, he couldn't hit Rainbow Dash.

"Did Twilight wrote to the Princess?" I asked.  
"No! The scrolls got burned by that huge thing!" AJ said.  
My heart filled with panic... we had no way of contacting the Princess now and no way to win that! I dashed towards Rainbow Dash and yelled at her to run. But in the moment she turned to look at me... The adult dragon hit her with the blue flames, turning her into stone. I saw her body fall on the ground and a crack appearing on her flank, right where her cute mark was.

At that moment I felt something burning inside my chest... Burning like a thousand suns. And I embraced that fire.

"_It's been a while..."_ I heard a voice inside my mind.  
I flapped my wings and reach to the sky in a blink of an eye. Right after I was dashing towards the blue dragon, ready to strike! I wanted his head on my wall for what he had done!

His mouth opened and a cone of blue flames came towards me. I spun in the air dodging the flames but he hit the side of my body with his hand. The ground started to approach fast but something held me right before I could land. A coat of white magic was surrounding my whole body and I was gently placed on the ground.

The fire in my chest wasn't so strong anymore either... I saw the dragon looking up and when I looked on the same direction I saw Princess Celestia floating with her wings wide open. She had a serious expression on her face and it slowly turned into an angry face when she saw her sister turned into stone.

"IT WAS YOU THAT TURNED MY BELOVED SISTER INTO STONE?" She said in a more calm version of the Canterlot voice.

The dragon looked at her and let out a soft laugh.  
"Yes it was Princess... Do you like it? I took some years to finally perfect the petrifying flame that you once tried to teach me." He said smiling at her. It was not a grin, nor a devilish smile... it was more of a tender smile. And it was possible to see on his eyes that he only had good feelings towards the Princess of the Sun.

I saw Celestia's eyes widening and her expression changing again. She was shocked with something... And here I was thinking that nothing could actually shock an eternal being.

"You... Is that... You?" She said and approached the Behemoth.  
"Yes princess..." The blue dragon said and his ethereal wings vanished. "It's been almost a thousand years since we last saw each other. How are things back in the new capitol?"

I simply couldn't hold it any longer. It was too much.  
"WAIT A DAMN SECOND HERE!" I shouted. "Can anyone tell me what the buck is happening here?"

The dragon looked at me and smiled.

"If I say 'Discord'... does this make any sense to you?"  
I face palmed... That accursed abomination was the responsible for all this mess... why the hell didn't I saw that before?

The blue dragon then threw his flame on Luna, her guards and Rainbow Dash... they all turned back into flesh and bone again. They all breathed deeply and had a confusion expression, looking to the sides a little lost.

"Celestia...? and... Y-YOU?" I heard Luna saying and then she flew to be next to her sister... But to be honest I only cared for one thing right now.

I walked towards Rainbow and hugged her thigh. She simple warped her fore hoofs around me, hugging me back.

"You need to stop scaring me like that..." I whispered. "You are going to give me a heart attack one of these days!"

She chuckled lightly and kissed my face.

"You need to stop worrying so much about me... Having a babysitter is not cool!"

We both turned to see the the huge dragon speaking with the Royal sisters.

"But why did you took part on this crazy plan?" Celestia said giggling lightly "If you wanted to meet us, you could simply come to Canterlot."  
"I know... But when Discord told me about his plan, I thought that it was too fun to simply pass... Besides..." His huge head turned to look at me. "I wanted to see closely what kind of soul you put on my son's body."  
I blinked a few times when he said that.  
"Wait a second... so... you are..."  
"Yes..." He said lowering his head to see me better. "I'm the father of your body... and the father of many other dragons across Equestria. My name is Night Sky"  
"Wooow..." I heard Spike's voice next to me. Twilight and the other approached to listen better to the conversation. "So... you are a magic dragon! Just like me!"

"Why is your name 'Night Sky'?" I asked to him.  
"Because..." I heard Luna saying. "... I was the one that named him." She was floating next to her sister... Wings wide open.

"That's all and good... but Ah must ask... What about poor Steel Head ov'there?" Applejack said pointing the body of the unconscious royal guard.  
"Oh no... I forgot about him!" I said and dashed to where Steel Head was.

"Don't worry about him." I heard the elder dragon saying.  
As I approached the guard, his whole body flashed in a green light. He had turned into something else... Some pony like creature with a small horn and bug wings. His whole body was covered with some kind of exoskeleton and he had some holes on his hooves.  
"What the...?" I jumped back, startled by that.  
"A changeling?" Celestia said. "Night Sky, what's the meaning of this?" She looked the huge dragon with a serious stare.

"The changeling attack on your kingdom was, in part, my fault." He said. "So, it is up to me to fix things up... Queen Chrysalis, you can come out now..."

The three teenager dragons got warped in a flash of green light giving place to three more changelings. One of them had the same height as Celestia and the other two were the same size as the one that was disguised as Steel Head... The higher one approached the dragon with a smirk on her lips... She spread her wings and started to float, close to the royal sisters too.  
"It's nice to see you again Celestia..." She said.  
"OK STOP!" I shouted. Every single pony and dragon that was there turned to look at me. I cleared my throat before start. "Let me get this straight... The changeling attack was your fault... and now you want to make both kingdoms to make peace..."  
The dragon nodded and I kept talking.  
"Ok... that's all and good but why in Loki's name you kidnapped me? Why not to simply call the Princess here? Where is the true Steel Head? The original one... not this... bug-like-pony..." I looked at the changeling and he hissed at me. "...AAAND... more important of all... WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LISTENED TO DISCORD?" When I finished my speech Night Sky and Chrysalis started to chuckle.

"I already told you Eravel..." he said. "I did it because I thought it would be a fun way to pass the time... None of you were in actual danger... And your friend... Steel Head? Don't worry about him... He is alive and fine. I send him to a very special place with a very especial pony..."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"ah-... AH-CHOO!" Steel Head sneezed and rubbed his hoof against his muzzle before adjusting his sunglasses... "Damn..." He cursed and relaxed again, taking a sip from his cold drink... The white pegasus was laid on his back in the a long chair, just enjoying the sun on his coat and the nice smell of the beach...

"Everything ok Steel?" Octavia said, interrupting the song she was playing on her cello, right next to him.  
"Yeah..." he said looking at the beautiful mare next to him. "By the way, what song is that? Is beautiful!" He said taking his sun glasses off to look better at Octavia.

"Nothing especial... I was just improvising a few notes..." She blushed with his complement.  
"Coming from you, everything is especial." He said and stood up, walking towards her and then kissing her lips lightly.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"What about them then?" I pointed towards the changelings that were teenager dragons just a moment ago. "I could have really hurt them with my weapons!"  
"Hardly..." Queen Chrysalis said. "The motive we swapped the true Steel Head for one of my changelings was that he would put a spell in the blades. You can hit anypony with them without causing any real pain... Especially us, since we have a natural armor."  
"But why bring my weapons here then? Why not to have Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia, asking for help." I asked sheathing my sword... I just hoped that the spell in my weapons wasn't permanent...

"This was Discord's Idea..." Night Sky said. "He said that It would be rather boring to just send a letter to Celestia... So he wanted to use the enchantment in your sword... The enchantment that would warn her if you ever got near to lose your temper... Just like you did when you saw that cyan pegasus turned into stone."

"So..." I started. "We were just pawns being played for Discord's amusement?"  
"Basically..." Night Sky Answered. "Well... not only his amusements... mine too. It was really fun to watch you all."

I opened my mouth to say something... but was there anything else to be said? No... it wasn't... At least not in front of royalty.

"C'mon..." I felt a hoof over my shoulder and saw Applejack. "Let's get going... Ah think that they'all have a lot t'discuss..." She pulled my lightly and I started walking.

Rainbow Dash got next to me and touched my shoulder with her head. I looked at her and smiled. In the end, everything went just fine. Nopony got hurt and the Princesses were discussing peace with another kingdom.

"And where do you think you are taking MY SON!?" We all turned to see A blue and green dragon staring at us with pure rage on its eyes... It was no other than Tharianee, my 'self proclaimed mother'.  
"I-am-not-your-damn-son!" I shouted at her... She was starting to get REALLY annoying.

"Mother stop that!" we turned to see a light blue dragon, Zera, landing near her.  
"Stop interfering Zera!" She scowled her real son. "I won't let those ponies take my son from me again!"  
"Tharianee..." Night Sky said with a sight. "We already talked about this... our son died while he was still an egg... this is not our son!"

"LIES!" She roared and I felt even Applejack stepping backwards. "YOU gave our son away to your 'beloved' princess! You betrayed me and even turned Zera against ME!"  
"HEY!" Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "Will you shut the buck up?" She said angry. "No one betrayed you, you dumb overgrown lizard! Now back away or I'll have to teach you a lesson or two for messing with my mate!" She snorted.  
Everypony simply looked shocked at Rainbow Dash... Knowing that she already got attacked by that dragon before, her courage and determination was really impressive. But, bravery and foolishness always walk side by side...

Tharianee let out a deep growl and in a blink of an eye, she jumped against Rainbow. Celestia and Luna cast a spell to contain the female dragon, but both weren't prepared for a quick reaction... No one really expected that Tharianee would attack... The princesses weren't able to properly aim and the spell miss.

I did the only thing I could do at the moment. I jumped between Rainbow and Tharianee, throwing a cone of fire right in the dragoness face. Her claws ripped the air and hit my body with full force. Getting hit by a dragon was nothing compared to a manticore or a hydra... Her massive palm hit my side and I hear my arm, wing and some ribs breaking.

I landed on the ground and bounced a few times, hitting a nearby rock. Everything around me was spinning... far away, like an echo; I could hear someone calling my name and a distant roar. Some lights flashed in the sky... and a cyan figure came towards me... my sight was so blur that I couldn't distinguish who it was... And the pain... was so overwhelming... I just give in to the darkness, wishing that all that pain would fade.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"I honestly wasn't counting that your 'mother' would show up..." I heard Discord's voice...

My body was laid against a tree, under the cool shadow of the leaves. As I opened my eyes I saw the usual landscape... green grass... pink clouds... a few trees and a bright sun in the sky... a group of buffalos dancing with pink skirts near a chocolate lake… nothing out of order… I breathed deeply and stared at him.

"You damn bastard!" I said and started to stand up.  
"Yes, Yes... I know you are angry at me... but what can say? It was fun wasn't?" He grinned at me.  
"Oh yeah... SUPER fun... You don't know how much fun is to be almost killed!" I growled at him.

"Oh, don't be such a wuss..." He said crossing his arms. "You should be already used to be beaten senseless..."

"I'll just ignore that you said that..." I sighed... Being beaten is something that no one can simply 'get used' to... "What happen after I blacked out?"  
"To put it simply... Celestia, Luna and Night Sky used their powers to bring Tharianee down..." he said simply. "The she was dragged by the changelings... after that Luna and Celestia agreed to join Chrysalis to discuss the peace between both kingdoms..."

"Good to hear that..." I sighed. "So... what now?"

"What do you mean?" He asked.  
"Well... now that your crazy scheme to make peace with the changeling kingdom is complete... what have you planned to make my life miserable?" I crossed my arms.  
"Eravel... You speak as if everything I do is to annoy you and make you suffer!" He looked shocked. "And I would be offended... if that wasn't true!" He said and started to laugh. My palm simply meet my face.  
"Speaking seriously now... Didn't you saw what I did here?" He said grinning at me. "Everything I did was to help you... Ok, not everything... many were for my personal amusement... But if you think deeply into what happened, you will see how much yourself steam grew... Not only that, but how much you've learned too. Chaos can be the most efficient teacher you can ever expect to have!" He said stuffing his chest with pride.

I hated to admit but he was right. It was through the things that he put me through that helped me grow. Not only as a dragon, but as a human too. Since the beginning he helped me see things that I was too dumb to realize myself.

"Now..." he said. "It's time to wake up... I'll come see you again in your dreams when I feel bored again... so, until next time!"

With that, the ground opened under me, making me fall towards a void... I fell for just a second before I could grasp the real world around me. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a hospital room... Strange to think how many time I woke up in a room like that... probably many times more than any pony on an entire life.

I pushed my body to sit. I felt my body all warped in bandages, but the pain was not so great as I thought it would be.  
"Be careful now..." I hear a familiar voice next to me. "You don't want to get hurt again do you?." The voice belonged to Steel Head.  
"Heh... Good morning for you too..." My words came a little weak... My throat was totally dry. "Wasn't you suppose to be with Octavia in some other place?"  
"Well... after two weeks we had to come back." he grinned.  
"Two weeks? Wow..." It was amazing how you simply don't feel the time passing when you are asleep.  
"Yeah... you sure are lazy!" He said and we both chuckled.  
"So... how's the things now?" I said making myself comfortable.  
"It seems that we are now at peace with the changeling kingdom... The dragons aren't causing any trouble either so, everything is calm now..."  
"And RD?"  
"She is worried sick about you... it took a lot of talk to convince that mare that she should go back to her routine... But still she comes every night to stay besides you."  
"You and Octavia?"  
"Best than ever. She moved back to Ponyvile and I'm living with her now... Oh, and you are homeless now." He said smirking.  
"Erm... what?" What the hell did he mean with that?  
"She is living with me in that treehouse... and we need our privacy and your room, since it is bigger... I even changed that terrible glass door to the balcony... now it has a nice and thick wooden door."  
"What the...? What about my stuff?" I said frowning at him.  
"With Rainbow Dash..." He said still grinning.  
"Oh you damn..." I chuckled. "You guys did that so I HAD to live with her didn't you?"  
"Kind of...you can sleep in the street if you think that living with the mare that you love is so bad" He laughed softly.

"Let's see... Live on the street, alone and exposed to the weather... or live with my love in a comfy and warm bed... such a hard decision..." I said scratching my shin, as if I were thinking.  
"Maybe a kiss can help you decide?" I heard a female voice and turned to look at my open window... There was Rainbow Dash, grinning at me.  
"Only a kiss? I think I'll need more than that to be convinced..." I chuckled.  
"Ok, what about a good punch sandwich?" She said showing her hoof at me.  
"No need! A kiss will do!" I gulped and heard Steel Head laughing.

"You can leave now..." Rainbow Said looking at Steel Head and approaching my bed. "I need to teach this overgrown lizard a lesson or two..."  
"Uh-oh..." Steel head said trotting to the door. "Good luck buddy!" He said before getting out of the room and closing the door.

Rainbow Dash climbed on my bed and cuddle against me… I warped an arm around her neck and smiled at her.  
"You are worrying me…" I chuckled.  
"Why…?" she arched an eyebrow.  
"I nearly died… spend two weeks sleeping… and you are not freaking out."  
"Well… Discord came to my dreams…" She shrugged.  
"He did?" It was my turn to arch an eyebrow.  
"Yeap…" She nodded. "He came saying that I shouldn't worry about you… that you were going to be fine…"  
"And you beat him don't you?" I chuckled.  
"Well…. Just a little bit… He woke me up before I could hit him more."  
I couldn't help but laugh at the image of Rainbow Dash beating Discord.  
"Ok, now THAT makes more sense…" I said wiping a few tears after laughing so hard.

"He had it coming… I wanted to give him a payback for what he did to me when he broke free from his stone prison." She said chuckling.

"I can imagine that…" I said and kissed her forehead.

She sighed and closed her eyes.

I closed mine too and we both stood in silence. No word had to be said in that moment… We finally found peace. I could only hope now that this peace would last for a good time…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It's funny how much one can change when he is willing to. How one can find happiness, friendship and love if he is willing to let go of his past. I'm the living proof of that…

Two month passed after those events… It took me a week to be released from the hospital and several days to be able to fly again. Until then, Rainbow Dash needed to help me get home, since I was now living with her.

Steel Head kept loyal to Octavia… Princess Celestia assigned him permanently as an officer in Ponlyvile… Not that the small town needed that, but the princess knew better than to separate him from his friends.

Far as I knew, the diplomacy between Equestria, the land of dragons and the Hive was going very well… The princesses even allowed some of the changeling to live among ponies to harvest love from the ambience and take it back to the Hive… just like the bees do with the flowers... This fact about bees I learned from Twilight. She insisted (didn't stop annoying me until I give up) to keep giving me classes about Equestria and how to control my fire.

Spike was having these classes too and he turned to be a huge fan of Night Sky. The elder dragon promised that he would teach the young purple drake how to make 'spells' out of fire when he got older. That is something that I'm eager to see happening too… But I know that I probably won't live long enough. My body may be of a dragon but my soul is not and I know that I'll be in Valhalla many years before Spike reach adulthood.

Some times I wonder how my life will be once I reach the great hall of Odin... If I'll be with the body of a dragon or a human… and more important… If Rainbow Dash will be there too. Celestia insisted that I should not worry about this kind of stuff but sometimes I just can't help it. But what I know is that I'll enjoy my life now. Enjoy the treasures that many, back in my home world, will never have the pleasure to have… Peace, friendship and love. And each day I want to experience more and more of this warm happiness in my chest, because life is like this: A big school where you learn how to be happy.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x

Eravel closed his journal and rested his pen on the inkpot. The dragon stood up and stretched his arms and wings, yawning. He took long hours to finish this particular part of the journal. Many more books he would fill but that would have to wait… because he still had many other moments to live…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N:** Well… the story has ended… this makes me sad (really, I'm almost crying here… hate when it ends). I only hope you guys had enjoyed this fic as much as I did writing it. I know that this is not a good fiction, and I know that many didn't like it (whole or some aspects of it) but I want to thank every single one of you guys that helped me making this fic.  
Maybe this was not the best ending, but you guys can be sure that I did my best with the little time I had… so, thank you… thank you very much! For all the love and hate… Thank you.

Probably I'll start something new… IDK… maybe related to this one (hardly)… But my only wish is to provide entertainment for you all, because I love every single one of you!  
So, thank you again, and see you next time!  
Brohoof!


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